LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIF'T  OF" 


- 


A  STUDY  OF  THE 

KINDERGARTEN 

PROBLEM 


IN   THE   PUBLIC   KINDERGARTENS 
OP  SANTA  BARBARA,  CALIFORNIA. 


A  STUDY  OF  THE 


KINDERGARTEN 

PROBLEM 


IN    THE    PUBLIC   KINDERGARTENS  OF  SANTA 
BARBARA,  CALIFORNIA,  FOR  THE  YEAR  1898-9 


—BY- 
FREDERIC  BURK,  PH.  D., 
City  Superintendent  of  Schools 

and 
CAROLINE   FREAR  BURK,   A.   M. 

In  Cooperation  with 

ORPHA  M.  QUAYLE,  JULIET  POWELL  RICE, 

Supervisor  of  Kindergartens  Supervisor  of  Music 

MARTHA  D.  TALLANT 

KINDERGARTNERS : 

GAIL  HARRISON  GERTRUDE  M.  DIEHL 

ALICE  L.  BLACKFORD        FANNIE  REED 

MAY  W.  REESE  EVALINE  ROSE  SEXTON 

ANNETTE  UNDERWOOD 


iN  FRANCISCO: 
THE  WHITAKBB  &  RAY  CO. 
1899. 


BOARD  OF  EDUCATION 

Of  the  City  of  Santa  Barbara  for  the  year  1898-9: 

J.  W.  TAGGART,  President  C.  F.  CARRIER,  Clerk 

C.  A.  EDWARDS 


TO 

G.    STANLEY    HALL,    Ph.    D.,    L.L.    D. 

President  of  Clark  University, 

whose  researches  in  child  psychology  are  giving  to  the  intuitions  of 
Froebel  a  scientific  basis  and  a  selective  critique,  and  whose 
leadership     is    extending    throughout    education 
the  recognition  of  the  genetic  principle. 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGES. 

I.     PREFACE — Frederic    Burk 5-    8 

II.    HISTORY  OF  KINDERGARTEN  ASSOCIATION — "With  roster 

of  officers  and   members— M.  D.  Tallant 9-  15 

III.  OUTLINE  OF  PAST  YEAR'S  WORK— Orpha  M.    Quayle,        16-  23 

IV.  NEUROLOGIC AL   CONDITIONS   OF  THE   KINDERGARTEN 

CHILD— Frederic  Burk 24-  30 

V.     PHYSICAL  CULTURE — Introduction,  and  references  to 

literature— Frederic    Burk 31-  36 

Practical    applications — Orpha   M.  Quayle 36-  40 

VI.     PLAY— A  Study  of  Kindergarten  Children— Caroline 

Frear  Burk 40-  53 

VII.  LANGUAGE  —  Introduction,  and  references — Frederic 

Burk  54-  59 

Practical  Methods  in  Story  Telling-,  Illustrative 
Drawings,  etc.  —  Gail  Harrison,  Gertrude  M. 
Diehl  and  May  W.  Reese 59-  71 

Clay  Modeling — Gail  Harrison 71-  73 

VIII.     Music — Introduction,  with  references — Frederic  Burk,        74-  75 
Method  of  Instruction— Juliet  Powell   Rice 75-  80 

IX.    CHILDREN'S  SPONTANEOUS  CHOICE  AND  USE  OF  KIN- 
DERGARTEN  MATERIALS — Caroline  Frear  Burk 81-  95 

X.  THE  LOVE  OF  NATURE— Alice  Blackford,  Annette 
Underwood,  Fannie  Reed  and  Evaline  Rose 
Sexton  96-102 

XI.     COUNTING  AND  NUMBER— Evaline  Rose  Sexton 103-107 

XII.     MORAL  TRAINING,  with   references— Frederic  Burk....      108-111 

XIII.     KINDERGARTEN   DIARIES — Gertrude    M.    Diehl,   Alice 

Blackford,  May  W.  Reese 112-123 


PREFACE. 

This  study  is  a  report  upon  one  year's  work  in  a  kinder- 
garten system  in  which  we  have  felt  free  to  break  somewhat 
from  tradition.  It  is  in  no  sense  offered  as  a  finished  product, 
nor  are  its  suggestions  anything  more  than  tentative.  It  is  con- 
fessedly crude.  The  conditions  have  been  favorable,  but  by  no 
means  ideal.  We  have  sought  to  apply  to  the  kindergarten, 
in  a  practical  way,  some  of  the  products  of  common  sense 
experience  and  some  of  the  suggestions  of  child  psychology. 
In  a  few  subjects  a  limited  bibliography  has  been  inserted,  but 
the  field  is  here  so  wide  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  attempt 
completion.  Readers  who  are  interested  are  earnestly  advised 
to  consult,  in  the  matter  of  child-study  literature,  the  Biblio- 
graphy of  Child-Study,  by  Mr.  Louis  N.  Wilson,  Librarian 
of  Clark  University,  1898.  (Address  Louis  N.  Wilson,  Clark 
University  Library,  Worcester,  Mass.)  The  child-study  book 
references  in  Will  S.  Monroe's  Bibliography  of  Education 
(International  Education  Series)  will  be  found  also  valuable. 
More  direct,  but  less  accessible,  are  the  topical  reference  syl- 
labi issued  by  Professor  Monroe  for  his  classes  in  the  State 
Normal  School  at  Westfield,  Mass. 

The  Santa  Barbara  kindergartens  are  a  part  of  the  public 
school  system  supported  by  a  district  tax.  They  now  fully 
accommodate  all  children  who  are  sent  to  them,  one  kinder- 
garten being  in  connection  with  each  grammar  school  build- 
ing of  the  city.  This  public  school  kindergarten  system  is  an 
outgrowth  of  a  benevolent  effort  inaugurated  by  a  number  of 
active  and  public-spirited  women  of  the  city  in  1887.  For 
nine  years  the  kindergartens  were  fostered  and  maintained  by 
private  contributions,  but  in  1896  the  school  department  pro- 
posed a  special  tax  for  their  support,  and  they  have  since  been 


6  PREFACE. 

maintained  by  this  means.  The  success  of  the  movement  is 
unquestioned.  In  many  other  communities,  similar  in  con- 
ditions to  Santa  Barbara,  the  kindergarten  is  struggling  for 
public  recognition  and  support,  and  the  history  of  a  successful 
establishment  in  our  community  may  be  of  assistance  to  sister 
attempts. 

A  second  purpose  in  this  publication  lies  in  the  pedagogical 
phase  of  the  kindergarten  problem.  The  kindergarten  is  hav- 
ing great  difficulty  in  commending  itself  with  sufficient  force 
to  the  public  mind  to  secure  its  incorporation  into  the  public 
school  system.  We  all  believe  in  the  necessity  for  public  edu- 
cation of  children  from  four  to  six  years,  nevertheless  we  find 
it  a  difficult  undertaking  to  assure  the  public  mind  that  the 
kindergarten  is  not  a  frivolous  nursery  room  based  upon  a 
cheery  sentimentalism  and  framed  in  notions  which  no  one 
can  understand.  On  the  other  hand,  the  school  people,  while 
they  openly  pat  the  kindergarten  upon  the  back  patronizingly, 
as  they  would  a  fretful  child,  are  not  active  in  supplying  real 
help  to  the  cause.  The  kindergarten  has  not  yet  been  able  to 
make  the  school  look  upon  it  seriously.  First  grade  teachers 
confide  to  their  superintendents  that  they  would  prefer  chil- 
dren who  have  not  attended  the  kindergarten  to  those  who 
have.  They  fail  to  find  any  product  in  the  kindergarten  train- 
ing of  which  the  school  can  make  use,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
they  whisper  that  the  kindergarten  children  are  unruly,  lack 
a  spirit  of  obedience,  are  dependent,  and  continually  expect 
to  be  amused.  It  may  be,  of  course,  that  the  primary  school 
teacher  does  not  know  a  good  thing  when  she  sees  it,  but  the 
upshot  of  the  matter  is  that  the  kindergarten  is  having  a  hard 
time  of  it  in  establishing  its  place  in  the  educational  system. 
The  least  we  can  say  is  that  the  school  and  the  kindergarten 
are  out  of  joint.  The  kindergartens  have  in  latter  years  been 
establishing  connecting  classes.  But  this  seems  an  absurd 
makeshift,  for  there  can,  in  reality,  be  no  chasmic  break  in 
the  child's  life.  There  is  a  steady  process  of  development. 
If  the  instincts  of  the  kindergarten  age  are  cultivated  prop- 
erly the  work  must  show  evident  results  for  the  school.  That 
stands  to  reason.  Of  course  we  must  dismiss  at  the  outset 
any  notion  that  the  kindergarten  should  do  the  work  of  the 


UN 
V 

X, 

PREFACE.  7 

schools.  No  one  wants  that.  The  first  grade  teacher  does 
not  ask  for  children  who  can  write  and  read,  but  she  has  a 
right  to  demand,  as  results  of  kindergarten  work,  the  develop- 
ment of  the  instincts  which  are  nascent  during  the  kinder- 
garten period.  My  personal  conviction,  after  considerable 
practical  study  of  children  who  come  from  the  kindergarten, 
is  that  the  fundamental  weakness  of  the  prevailing  kindergar- 
ten consists  in  its  gross  neglect  of  instincts  which  properly 
belong  to  its  period,  and  attempts  prematurely  to  develop 
instincts  which  do  not  bud  until  the  adolescent  period.  As 
a  consequence  there  are  few  results  of  value  to  the  school,  for 
much  of  that  which  has  been  done  should  have  been  left 
undone,  and  much  of  that  which  has  been  left  undone  should 
have  been  done. 

I  believe  that  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  modern  child-study 
movement  to  remedy  this  disjointed  condition.  The  investi- 
gations in  child  psychology,  up  to  the  present  time,  bear  upon 
the  period  of  infancy  and  that  covered  by  the  kindergarten 
more  directly,  perhaps,  than  upon  any  other  period  of  devel- 
opment of  the  individual.  Some  of  the  sister  sciences — biol- 
ogy, neurology,  physiology,  embryology,  and  anthropology — 
have  also  made  important  suggestions  in  the  matter  of  educa- 
tion during  this  period.  While  it  would  unquestionably  be 
a  course  of  foolhardinesss  to  apply  the  hints  and  raw  sugges- 
tions of  these  modern  sciences  directly  to  practical  education 
upon  any  large  scale,  on  the  other  hand,  a  number  of  these 
same  materials  and  methods  of  instruction  have  also  been  put 
forth  from  the  fields  of  practical  experience.  While  it  is  true 
that  that  wing  of  the  kindergarten  system,  which  has  sought 
to  gain  information  regarding  children  solely  by  a  close  letter 
study  of  Froebellian  philosophy,  has  been  slow  to  inform  itself 
in  the  products  of  the  modern  sciences  or  to  assist  in  the 
simpler  lines  of  research,  nevertheless,  there  are  scattered 
here  and  there  in  the  kindergarten  a  hopeful  and  growing 
number  of  students,  who,  admitting  that  kindergarten  work 
should  yield  results  which  need  no  esoteric  training  to  recog- 
nize, have  not  hesitated  to  go  beyond  the  magic  kindergarten 
circle  in  search  of  them.  In  many  instances  these  results  of 
experience  in  training  children  from  four  to  six  years  fall 


8  PREFACE. 

into  line  with  what  child-study  investigations  have  foretold.  I 
believe  that  there  is  already  enough  of  these  tried  methods 
and  materials  from  which  to  form  the  substantial  basis  of  a 
curriculum  for  children  from  four,  to  six  years.  Nothing 
need  be  included  which  is  not  now  in  successful  prac- 
tice in  some  kindergarten,  here  or  there,  and,  while  I  am 
aware  that  some  of  these  practices  may  seem  treasonable  to 
sacred  traditions,  I  am  not  aware  that  they  are  beyond  the  pale 
of  the  broad  intuitions  of  Father  Froebel,  and  I  share  the  gen- 
eral educational  conviction  that  as  the  framer  of  the  main  pil- 
lars of  an  educational  system  no  one  has  been  greater  than  he. 
As  a  practical  carpenter  and  a  fresco  painter,  it  may  be,  how- 
ever, there  is  room  for  question  upon  his  absolute  infallibility, 
for,  after  all  is  said,  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  was  really 
mortal,  that  he  lived  at  a  specific  period  in  educational  history, 
that  he  was  affected  by  his  own  environment  of  philosophy 
and  science,  and  that  this  environment,  this  philosophy,  and 
the  horizon  of  science  have  since  his  time  radically  changed. 
During  the  half  century  or  more  since  Froebel  lived,  an  ava- 
lanche of  new  facts  regarding  man,  his  origin  and  process  of 
development,  has  been  precipitated  upon  education,  materially 
changing  our  conceptions  of  the  child  and  education,  and 
practically  wiping  out  the  phraseology  of  that  cheery  panthe- 
istic philosophy  by  which  he  expressed  himself.  Old  princi- 
ples must  be  restated  from  newer  standpoints,  and  from  more 
exact  data  of  science  and  experience,  and  in  a  newer  philo- 
sophic setting.  If  this  were  done,  perhaps  the  orthodox  and 
the  unorthodox  would  not  find  it  so  difficult  to  shake  hands. 
Nor  can  it  be  regarded  as  presumptuous  or  treasonable  on  the 
part  of  the  latter  end  of  the  nineteenth  century,  after  fifty 
years  of  research,  to  say  that  it  knows  more  and  more  accu- 
rately the  facts  of  these  instincts  than  Froebel  knew;  nor  even 
to  say  that  Froebel  erred  in  placing  the  development  of  some 
of  the  moral,  aesthetic,  and  mathematical  instincts  too  early 
in  child  life.  Further,  it  is  not  an  improbable  possibility  that 
later  experience  should  show  that,  in  the  invention  of  or 
selection  of  methods  and  material  to  develop  a  principle,  Froebet 
did  not  always  choose  the  very  best. 

FREDERIC  BURK. 


History  of  the  Santa  Barbara  Kindergarten 
Association. 


Just  twelve  years  ago  some  of  our  earnest  women  got  their 
heads  together  and  decided  that  a  Kindergarten  would  be  a 
good  thing  for  Santa  Barbara.  A  meeting  was  held,  on  Feb- 
ruary 4,  1887,  and  with  just  six  charter  members — Mrs.  Cor- 
inne  Wilson,  Mrs.  Nellie  Backus,  Mrs.  Edwards,  Mrs.  W.  H. 
Woodbridge  and  Mrs.  M.  D.  Tallant — the  Santa  Barbara  Kin- 
dergarten Association  was  formed.  Four  of  these  women  are 
still  members.  Of  course,  the  first  questions  were  of  ways  and 
means,  and  it  seemed  best  to  solicit  subscribers,  and  also  to 
charge  twenty-five  cents  per  month  for  tuition,  envelopes  to 
be  sent  out  at  the  discretion  of  the  teachers.  With  a  firm  belief 
in  the  work  and  faith  in  the  generosity  of  the  public,  the  Asso- 
ciation opened  the  Kindergarten  the  following  month,  though 
only  twelve  dollars  had  been  subscribed.  During  this  month 
donations  amounting  to  $21.60  in  money,  a  piano  rent  free  for 
six  months,  were  secured,  also  materials  for  curtains,  books, 
pictures  and  various  articles  for  use  and  ornament.  A  mem- 
bership fee  of  $3  a  year  was  agreed  upon.  The  following  an- 
nual report  for  the  first  year's  work  showed  a  very  satisfactory 
conditon  of  the  finances : 

Annual  report  of  year  ending  February,  1888:  Membership 
fees,  $51.00;  tuition,  $66.75;  sa^e  °*  flowers,  $143.77;  concert 
by  young  people,  $278.00;  donations,  $136.55;  monthly  sub- 
scriptions, $374.50.  Total  amount,  $1050.67.  Amount  ex- 
pended for  salaries,  rent  and  material,  $771.84.  Balance  in 
treasury,  $278.83. 

The  Kindergarten  was  first  held  in  the  old  Carillo  building, 
on  De  la  Guerra  street,  and  opened  with  only  seven  children. 
The  teachers,  Miss  Warner,  director,  and  Miss  Mary  Scollan, 


io  HISTORY. 

assistant,  had  literally  to  go  out  into  the  highways  and  compel 
the  children  to  come  in,  but  by  the  end  of  the  month  there  were 
35  names  enrolled,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  77  names  were 
on  the  books.  It  was  soon  found  necessary  to  move  to  a 
warmer  room,  and  the  second  year  found  the  litttle  band  in  the 
old  church,  on  Ortega  and  De  la  Vina  streets,  but  as  children 
were  not  very  plentiful  in  that  neighborhood,  it  seemed  best  to 
move  to  the  Odd  Fellows'  building,  on  State  street,  where,  in 
September,  1890,  the  Kindergarten  opened  with  22  children, 
which  number  was  increased  to  98  by  the  end  of  the  school 
year.  The  teachers  consisted  of  a  director,  Miss  Henrietta 
Casebolt,  a  paid  teacher,  Miss  Mary  Scollan,  and  two  volun- 
teer assistants.  The  Kindergarten  has  always  been  open  to  vis- 
itors, and  this  year  27  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity. 
As  the  work  was  new  to  most  of  them,  the  teachers  were  plied 
with  questions,  and  the  interest  was  very  genuine.  The  idea 
that  some  day  the  Kindergarten  would  be  a  part  of  the  public 
school  system  was  ever  before  the  Association,  and  time  of 
opening  and  closing  was  made  to  correspond  to  that  of  the 
public  schools.  In  September,  1891,  the  kindergarten  reopened 
in  Odd  Fellows'  building  with  41  present.  During  the  year 
there  were  114  names  enrolled.  The  same  corps  of  teachers 
had  charge,  but  as  the  volunteers  were  not  to  be  depended  upon, 
the  members  of  the  Association  furnished  the  music  during  the 
play  hour.  There  were  60  visitors.  Each  Christmas,  friends 
of  the  children  furnished  a  tree  with  candy  and  little  gifts  so 
dear  to  the  childish  hearts,  and  the  joy  and  gladness  of  the 
youngsters  were  ample  reward.  Sunshine  being  indispensable 
to  health  and  happiness,  the  Association  endeavored  to  give  the 
children  all  they  could,  so  with  this  in  view,  another  move  was 
made  to  Mr.  Ivison's  building,  just  below  the  Mascarel,  where, 
in  the  fall  of  1892,  the  sixth  year's  work  was  begun  with  60 
children,  which  number  was  increased  to  125  during  the  year. 
The  teachers  made  over  sixty  visits,  which  helped  to  swell  the 
membership  and  increased  the  interest  and  usefulness  of  the 
work.  There  were  127  visitors  registered.  Froebel's  birthday 
was  celebrated  each  year  by  giving  the  children  a  jolly  good 
time,  and  the  favorite  jollification  was  a  soap-bubble  party,  fol- 
lowed by  light  refreshments.  The  children  always  pronounced 


HISTORY.  ii 

it  "The  very  best  party  we  ever  had." 

About  this  time  Miss  A.  S.  C.  Blake,  one  of  the  best  friends 
Santa  Barbara  children  have  ever  had,  proposed  to  unite  with 
the  members  of  the  Assocation  to  collect  money  to  put  up  a 
building  to  be  used  as  a  manual  training  school  and  kinder- 
garten. The  proposition  was  unanimously  accepted.  Through 
the  efforts  of  Mr.  Joseph  Howard  a  subscription  was  started, 
and  about  $2000  raised  by  Santa  Barbara  people,  Miss  Blake 
supplying  the  remainder  of  the  sum  necessary  to  erect  the  build- 
ing now  known  as  the  Manual  Training  School.  In  October, 

1894,  amidst  much  rejoicing,  we  settled  in  the  beautiful  room 
now  known  as  the  Art  Room,  with  an  attendance  of  58  the  first 
day,  and  an  enrollment  of  121  for  the  year.    There  were  129 
visitors.    After  being  here  just  one  year  the  room  was  found 
to  be  too  small,  as  both  the  Manual  Training  and  Kindergar- 
ten had  grown  beyond  our  expectations.     In  the  summer  of 

1895,  Miss  Blake  purchased  the  interest  of  the  Kindergarten 
Association  for  $2146,  and  with  $1000,  a  lot  was  purchased. 
Building  was  begun,  when  it  was  found  necessary  to  raise  more 
money,  as  the  association  had  promised  to  incur  no  debt  on  the 
new  building.     Through  the  personal  effort  of  the  President, 
Dr.  Ida  V.  Stambach,  $700  more  were  raised,  increasing  the 
amount  to  $2800,  and  the  building  now  known  as  the  Central 
Kindergarten  was  completed.     September,  1895,  found  us  in- 
stalled in  our  own  quarters,  and  here  we  began  another  year's 
work  with  65  children  present  at  first  and  130  names  enrolled 
during  the  year.    The  number  of  children  has  increased  stead- 
ily until  during  this  year  there  have  been  194  names  enrolled. 
The  teachers  deserve  much  praise  and  gratitude  for  their  faith- 
fulness and  efficiency,  without  which  the  work  would  have 
failed.    In  1896,  after  the  work  was  connected  with  the  public 
schools,  the  trustees  thought  best  to  open  a  Training  school  for 
young  ladies.    Ten  entered  the  class,  but  as  the  experiment  was 
not  a  success  owing  to  the  small  field,  the  class  was  discontin- 
ued the  following  year.    From  the  first  the  Kindergarten  has 
been  purely  a  Santa  Barbara  institution,  having  been  supported 
entirely  by  the  people  of  the  town,  who  recognized  it  as  a  per- 
manent benefit  to  the  little  ones.     The  monthly  subscriptions 
were  always  small,  amounting  to  about  one-third  of  the  ex- 


12  HISTORY. 

penses,  which  were  met  by  entertainments  of  various  kinds — 
lawn  fetes,  concerts,  afternoon  teas,  valentine  tea  by  the  society 
men  of  Santa  Barbara,  living  pictures  by  society  people,  beside 
Brownie  entertainments  and  children's  fairs  and  bizarre  enter- 
tainments of  all  kinds,  as  well  as  by  donations.  There  have 
never  been  any  large  donations  from  any  one  individual,  but 
small  sums  from  many  persons,  showing  that  the  interest  has 
been  general  and  widespread.  All  classes  and  conditions  have 
been  united  in  trying  to  help  this  good  work  and  have  invaria- 
bly responded  to  appeals  for  donations  of  money,  clothes  or 
material.  We  note  with  pleasure  the  gift  of  $1000  bequeathed 
at  his  death  by  Mr.  H.  K.  Winchester.  As  the  number  of 
pupils  increased  rapidly,  expenses  increased  also,  and  it  be- 
came necessary  to  provide  more  room.  So  the  Association 
conferred  with  the  school  trustees  and  it  was  decided  to  make 
an  effort  to  incorporate  the  Kindergarten  into  the  regular  pub- 
lic school  course.  A  special  election  was  held,  June,  1896,  with 
most  gratifying  results.  A  tax  of  $2500  was  levied  on  this  dis- 
trict, which  was  carried  almost  unanimously,  only  about  a 
dozen  votes  being  against  it.  Next  year  the  tax  was  raised 
to  $3500,  and  in  1898,  $4500  was  called  for  and  obtained. 
When  the  Kindergarten  became  a  part  of  the  school  system  the 
work  was  extended,  and  rooms  were  rented  in  the  other  wards. 
Channel  City  hall  and  the  Unity  chapel  were  secured.  During 
the  past  year  the  Kindergarten  Association  incorporated  ac- 
cording to  the  laws  of  the  State,  and  then  decided  to  mortgage 
their  property  and  borrow  money  from  the  Loan  and  Building 
association  to  erect  two  new  Kindergartens  (to  be  rented  to  the 
school  department),  one  in  the  Fourth  and  the  other  in  the  Fifth 
ward.  Eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-nine  found  the  children 
settled  in  bright,  airy,  sunshiny  rooms  in  place  of  the  former 
unsuitable  quarters.  The  work  has  been  a  delight  from  the 
first  because  of  the  hearty  sympathy  and  co-operation  of  the 
entire  community.  Although  the  ladies  of  the  Association  have 
been  discouraged  many  times  and  funds  have  become  exhausted 
there  was  always  a  way  out  of  the  difficulty,  because  they  had 
a  generous  public  to  appeal  to,  who  never  failed  to  respond, 
and  the  work  has  grown  steadily  and  many,  many  little  ones 
have  been  sent  on  their  way  rejoicing  who  otherwise  would 


HISTORY.  13 

never  have  known  a  better  way.  The  membership  of  the  As- 
sociation has  never  been  large,  the  greatest  number  at  any  one 
time  being  35,  and  these  women  have  raised  money  to  cover  all 
expenses,  which  the  following  table  will  specify : 

Expenses  for  year  ending  February,  1888 $  771 

Expenses  for  year  ending  February,  1889 800 

Expenses  for  year  ending  February,  1890 850 

Expenses  for  year  ending  February,  1891 .,.,...     900 

Expenses  for  year  ending  February,  1892 975 

Expenses  for  year  ending  February,  1893 IOO° 

Expenses  for  year  ending  February,  1894 1250 

Expenses  for  year  ending  February,  1896 1250 

MARTHA  D.  TALLANT. 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  SANTA  BARBARA  KINDERGARTEN 
ASSOCIATION. 

From  February,  1887 — August,  1887: 

President — Mrs.  Corinne  Wilson. 

Vice-President — Mrs.  S.  W.  Backus. 

Treasurer — Miss  Anna  Edwards. 

Secretary — Miss  Lucy  H.  Wilson. 

Board  of  Managers— Mrs.  M.  D.  Tallant,  Mrs.  W.  H. 
Woodbridge,  Dr.  Ida  V.  Stambach. 

August,  1887 — August,  1888: 

President — Mrs.  Joseph  Howard. 

Vice-President—Mrs.  S.  W.  Backus. 

Treasurer — Miss  Anna  Edward. 

Secretary — Mrs.  C.  W.  Woodbridge. 

Board  of  Managers — Mrs.  W.  H.  Woodbridge,  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Knight,  Mrs.  E.  C.  Tallant,  Mrs.  William  White. 

August,  1888 — February,  1889: 

President — Mrs.  Joseph  Howard. 

Vice-President — Mrs.  William  Woodbridge. 

Treasurer — Miss  Anna  Edwards. 

Secretary — Mrs.  C.  W.  Woodbridge. 

Board  of  Managers— Mrs.  M.  D.  Tallant,  Mrs.  W.  H. 
Woodbridge,  Miss  Elizabeth  Knight,  Mrs.  Abbie  S.  White. 


*4  HISTORY. 

February,  1889  to  February,  1890: 

President — Mrs.  A.  S.  A.  White. 

Vice-President — Mrs.  William  Woodbridge, 

Treasurer — Miss  Anna  Edwards. 

Secretary — Mrs.  R.  S.  Chamberlain. 

Board  of  Managers — Mrs.  George  Edwards,  Mrs,  Charles 
Woodbridge,  Mrs.  I.  K.  Fisher. 

February,  1890  to  August,  1890: 

President — Mrs.  George  Edwards. 

Vice-President — Mrs.  W.  H.  Woodbridge, 

Treasurer — Mrs.  A.  S.  A.  White. 

Secretary — Miss  R.  A.  Garland. 

Board  of  Manager—Mrs.  M.  D.  Tallant,  Mrs.  W.  H.  Wood- 
bridge,  Miss  Elizabeth  Knight,  Mrs.  A.  S.  A.  White. 

August,  1890  to  February,  1892: 

President — Dr.  Ida  V.  Stambach. 

Vice-President — Mrs.  W.  H.  Woodbridge. 

Treasurer — Miss  Anna  Edwards. 

Secretary — Miss  R.  A.  Garland. 

Board  of  Managers — Mrs.  Dr.  Winchester,  Mrs.  Jennie 
Chamberlain,  Mrs.  George  Edwards. 

February,  1892,  to  February,  1894: 

President — Dr.  Ida  V.  Stambach. 

Vice-President — Mrs.  William  H.  Woodbridge. 

Treasurer — Miss  Anna  Edwards. 

Secretary — Miss  R.  A.  Garland. 

Board  of  Managers — Miss  Fanny  Bigelow,  Mrs.  Dr.  Win- 
chester, Mrs.  Jennie  Chamberlain,  Mrs.  George  Edwards. 

February,  1894,  to  February,  1895: 

President — Dr.  Ida  V.  Stambach. 

Vice-President—Mrs.  M.  D.  Tallant. 

Treasurer — Miss  Anna  Edwards. 

Secretary — Miss  R.  A.  Garland. 

Board  of  Managers — Miss  Fanny  Bigelow,  Mrs.  R.  F.  Win- 
chester, Mrs.  Jennie  Chamberlain,  Mrs.  George  Edwards. 

February,  1895  to  February,  1899: 

President — Mrs.  M.  D.  Tallant. 

Vice-President — Mrs.  Joseph  Howard. 

Secretary — Mrs.  C.  M.  Gregory. 


HISTORY.  15 

Treasurer — Miss  Anna  Edwards. 

BOARD  OF  MANAGERS; 

Miss  Elizabeth  Knight. 

Miss  Fanny  Bigelow. 

Mrs.  Clinton  B.  Hale. 

February,  1899 — February,  1900: 

President — Dr.  Ida  V.  Stambach,  } 

Vice-President—Mrs.  M.  D.  Tallant 

Secretary  and  Treasurer — Mrs.  L.  G.  Dreyfus* 
BOARD  OF  DIRECTORS  : 

Dr.  Ida  V.  Stambach. 

Mrs.  L.  G.  Dreyfus. 

Miss  Fanny  Bigelow. 

Mrs.  R.  F.  Winchester, 

Miss  Elizabeth  Knight 

Mrs.  M.  D.  Tallant. 

Members  of  the  Association  from  1887  to  1899: 

Mrs.  Corinne  Wilson,  Mrs.  Nellie  G.  Backus,  Miss  Elizabeth 
Knight,  Miss  Anna  Edwards,  Mrs.  M.  D.  Tallant,  Mrs.  Annie 
T.  Woodbridge,  Mrs.  Lucy  H.  Wilson,  Miss  Lettie  B.  Calkins, 
Miss  Lizzie  H.  Fisher,  Miss  Susan  K.  Wade,  Mrs.  Dr.  Stod- 
dard,  Mrs.  Jane  Woodbridge,  Mrs.  C.  A.  Stroke,  Mrs.  Isabella 
MacL.  Howard,  Mrs.  Lucy  BrinkerhorT,  Dr.  Ida  V.  Stambach, 
Mrs.  Thomas  Knapp,  Mrs.  Wm.  White,  Mrs.  M.  A.  Ashley 
(honorary),  Mrs.  I.  K.  Fisher,  Life  member;;  Mrs.  J.  T.  Gil- 
bert, Life  member;  Mr.  W.  H.  Woodbridge,  Life  member; 
Mrs.  Thos.  Bard,  Mrs.  C.  C.  Wheeler,  Miss  R.  A.  Garland, 
Mrs.  C.  P.  Low,  Mrs.  Chas.  Weitzel,  Mrs.  Nellie  Harrison, 
Miss  Roeder,  Mrs.  Dr.  McNulty,  Mrs.  Jennie  Chamberlain, 
Mrs.  Dr.  Winchester,  Mrs.  Pastora  De  Forest  Griffin,  Mrs. 
Brastow  (honorary),  Mrs.  H.  D.  Vail,  Mrs.  W.  Metcalf,  Mrs. 
George  Edwards,  Miss  Fanny  Bigelow,  Mrs.  Charles  Edwards, 
Mrs.  Jno.  P.  Stearns  (honorary),  Mrs.  Norman  Wines,  Mrs. 
Geo.  Coleman,  Mrs.  E.  W.  Gaty,  Mrs.  Louis  G.  Dreyfus,  Mrs. 
F.  H.  Wheelan  (honorary),  Miss  A.  S.  C.  Blake  (honorary), 
Mrs.  Frederic  Woodworth,  Mrs.  Mary  Scott,  Mrs.  F.  M.  Whit- 
ney, Mrs.  Alfred  Edwards,  Mrs.  A.  B.  Doremus,  Mrs.  R.  J. 
Hall,  Mrs.  J.  W.  Cooper,  Mrs.  Henry  Sturgis,  Miss  Gertrude 
McCurdy,  Mrs.  Hannah  Hollister,  Mrs.  Walther  Otto. 


Outline  of  the  Past  Year's  Work. 

The  Santa  Barbara  Public  Kindergartens  were  opened  Aug- 
ust 29th,  1898,  with  an  attendance  of  150  children  in  the  four 
kindergartens,  and  with  eight  teachers.  The  increase  in  at- 
tendance makes  the  present  enrollment  194,  while  the  actual 
number  in  attendance  during  the  year  is  290. 

In  organizing  the  plan  of  work,  it  was  decided  that  the  most 
advantageous  use  of  the  afternoons  would  be  in  following  a 
course  in  child  study,  meeting  together  for  conference  and  ex- 
change of  thought,  visiting  the  sick,  attending  parents'  meet- 
ings, visiting  parents  for  information  regarding  the  children, 
and  distributing  necessary  clothing. 

THE  KINDERGARTEN  SEMINARY  :  The  conviction  that  the  exist- 
ing methods  might  be  advantageously  modified,  and  the  trend 
and  scope  of  those  methods  so  directed  as  to  be  kept  within  the 
channels  of  a  practical  preparation  for  school  life,  led  Superin- 
tendent Burk  to  form  a  Public  School  Kindergarten  Seminary, 
for  the  purpose  of  study  and  investigation  of  subjects  having 
a  direct  bearing  upon  the  welfare  of  kindergarten  children. 
These  meetings  were  held  once  a  week  in  the  afternoon,  when 
reviews  of  articles  and  books  by  well  known  educators,  scien- 
tists and  students  of  child  life  were  read  by  members.  By  this 
method  the  following  subjects  were  carefully  reviewed  and  dis- 
cussed :  Barnes — Punishment  as  Seen  by  Children ;  Brown — 
Notes  on  Children's  Drawings;  Buckman — Babies  and  Mon- 
keys ;  Hall  and  Ellis — A  Study  of  Dolls ;  Darwin — Instinct  and 
Play  in  Descent  of  Man;  Karl  Groos — The  Play  of  Animals; 
Hall — Children's  Lies;  Johnson — Education  by  Plays  and 
Games ;  Lloyd  Morgan — Habit  and  Instinct ;  Morgan — Animal 
Life  and  Intelligence;  Morrison — Juvenile  Offenders;  Mum- 
ford — Survival  Movements  of  Human  Infancy;  Robinson — 


PAST  YEAR'S  WORK.  iy 

The  Primitive  Child;  Schallenberger — A  Study  of  Children's 
Rights;  Herbert  Spencer — Instinct;  Susan  E.  Blow — Symbol- 
ic Education,  Chapter  on  Meaning  of  Play;  Taylor — Primitive 
Culture;  James  Sully — The  Imaginative  Side  of  Play;  Gulick 
— Some  Psychical  Aspects  of  Muscular  Exercise;  Sully — 
Studies  in  Childhood. 

These  meetings  were  well  attended,  several  members  from 
outside  having  joined,  making  the  membership  eighteen.  The 
interest  was  so  earnest  and  well  sustained  that  the  teachers  of 
the  other  departments  urged  the  superintendent  to  give  them  an 
opportunity  for  similar  work,  and  the  seminary  suffered  the 
pangs  of  dissolution  only  to  find  re-birth  in  the  Education  Club, 
which  comprises  nearly  all  of  the  public  school  teachers  of 
Santa  Barbara,  who  hear  each  week  lectures  on  neurology,  psy- 
chology and  kindred  subjects  of  interest  and  value  to  teachers. 

SUPERVISOR'S  MEETINGS:  Once  a  week  the  kindergartners 
have  met  their  supervisor  for  discussion  of  the  week's  work 
and  observations,  considerations  of  first  grade  criticisms  and 
requirements  for  a  practical  preparation  of  the  children  for 
school  life,  and  use  of  kindergarten  material  to  that  end,  with 
the  view  of  reaching  uniformity  in  the  results  of  their  work. 
The  discussions  of  methods  for  developing  the  counting,  num- 
ber, drawing,  and  story  interests,  the  effects  of  choice  of  ma- 
terial and  freedom  of  expression  have  been  of  interest  and 
profit  to  the  kindergartners. 

They  have  also  devoted  much  time  to  visiting  the  absent  and 
sick,  coming  into  touch  with  the  parents  in  this  way,  and 
through  the  kindness  and  co-operation  of  Father  Stockman 
have  distributed  donated  clothing  where  necessary. 

During  the  first  few  months  the  regular  kindergarten  work 
was  carried  on,  but  as  the  studies  in  the  seminary  progressed, 
the  necessity  for  modifications  in  the  method  of  the  kindergar- 
ten became  evident.  There  is  a  knocking  at  the  kindergarten's 
peaceful  and  prosperous  door,  a  sound  of  many  voices  demand- 
ing to  be  heard — voices  from  little  children,  parents,  teachers, 
physicians,  psychologists,  neurologists,  students  of  child  na- 
ture— beseeching,  suggesting,  urging,  convincing,  threatening, 
commanding  us  to  throw  down  the  barriers  of  self-compla- 
cency behind  which  we  have  so  securely  entrenched  ourselves, 


i8  PAST    YEAR'S    WORK. 

and  to  listen  to  the  voices  of  modern  investigation  and  practi- 
cal experience.  Some  intelligent  kindergartners  have  already 
thrown  down  many  traditional  implements  of  their  craft,  and 
as  they  rise  to  open  wide  the  door  to  modern  research  and  pro- 
gress, see  the  intricate  weaving  mat  and  the  diminutive  folding 
paper  vanish  with  only  a  parting  sigh  of  regret — regret  for 
the  choice  and  logical  sequences  so  painstakingly  labored  over, 
so  conscientiously  administered;  for  the  elaborate  story,  with 
its  adult  moral  faithfully  ingrafted  upon  the  child's  dawning 
spiritual  life;  for  the  carefully  prepared  dictation  with  gift  or 
occupation,  which  has  so  sweetly  and  craftily  sought  to  convey 
adult  scientific  instruction  to  the  unconscious  little  one ;  for  the 
aesthetic  games  which  they  have  performed  with  grace  and 
conscientious  adherence  to  traditional  modes  of  exhibition. 

The  thoughtful  kindergartner  bids  the  new  tendencies  wel- 
come— the  little  child,  with  his  untrammeled  and  naive  rev- 
elation of  himself  in  play,  his  interests,  his  longings,  his  neces- 
sities; the  mother,  with  her  divine  intuitions,  her  knowledge 
of  his  pre-natal  and  home  influences ;  the  primary  teacher,  with 
her  practical  suggestions  for  preparation  for  school  life,  -so 
soon  to  be  entered  upon ;  the  physician,  with  the  solemn  words 
of  warning  concerning  injured  eyesight,  nervous  complaints, 
precocious  brain  development;  the  neurologist,  with  the  reve- 
lations of  modern  investigation  regarding  the  extreme  delicacy 
of  the  nervous  system,  the  importance  of  developing  the  fun- 
damental activities  fully,  at  the  period  of  their  nascencies,  and 
the  danger  of  forcing  prematurely  the  fragile  nerve  fibres ;  the 
psychologist,  with  the  demand  that  play,  in  its  broadest  sense, 
with  every  incentive  for  its  free  expression,  is  the  child's  right- 
ful inheritance,  his  only  duty  toward  himself  and  humanity,  the 
only  safe,  sure  foundation  for  a  life  of  usefulness  to  himself 
and  others. 

After  ten  years  of  close  observation  of  kindergarten  children, 
during  which  time  I  have  committed  many  an  educational  sin 
in  mistaken  enthusiasm,  and  in  watching  the  effects  produced 
upon  the  children  by  my  misguided  and  unholy  zeal,  I  am  con- 
vinced that  the  modern  kindergarten  has  outgrown  many  of 
the  encrusted  interpretations  of  Froebel's  thought,  that  it  has 
ventured  in  many  lines  upon  the  field  belonging  to  adolescence; 


PAST   YEAR'S  WORK.  19 

that  it  has  encroached  upon  the  child's  rights  by  attempting  to 
show  him  a  better  way  to  play  than  Nature  teaches  him;  that 
it  has  put  the  moral  development  of  adolescence  upon  his  puny 
shoulders ;  that  it  is  more  and  more  intruding  upon  the  domain 
of  the  school  in  using  the  original  playthings  devised  by  Froe- 
bel,  as  a  medium  through  which  to  smuggle  sugar-coated  in- 
struction, ignorantly  or  willfully  mistaking  childish  curiosity 
for  the  spirit  of  scientific  investigation.  Doubtless  this  curiosity 
judiciously  fostered  and  gratified  may  lead  to  a  desire  for  sci- 
entific research  in  adolescence,  yet  in  the  kindergarten  the  spirit 
of  scientific  investigation,  as  such,  is  in  its  embryological  sleep. 

That  children  have  gone  home  from  the  kindergarten  with 
flushed  faces,  tired  eyes,  poor  appetites  and  irritated  nerves  has 
been  frequently  reported  to  me  by  mothers,  and  upon  urging 
a  candid  expression  of  opinion  from  them,  some  have  ventured 
to  say  that  possibly  we  are  trying  to  teach  the  children  too  much 
at  once. 

We  conscientiously  spend  the  entire  afternoon  in  making 
elaborate  preparations  for  more  flushed  faces,  tired  eyes,  poor 
appetites  and  irritated  nerves  upon  the  morrow.  We  want 
Johnny  to  learn  songs  appropriate  to  the  season  and  the 
weather,  the  aesthetic  significance  of  which  is  so  obvious  and 
would  be  so  valuable  if  he  only  understood  the  words.  How- 
ever, Johnny  is  equal  to  the  occasion  and  frequently  improvises 
words  which  have  a  more  direct  meaning  to  him  than  those 
offered  up  to  the  shrine  of  his  spiritual  nature.  We  expect  him 
to  remember  what  we  tell  him  in  a  morally  or  scientifically  in- 
structive story;  he  must  learn  the  words,  music  and  move- 
ments of  the  so-called  games ;  he  must  sit  in  quiet  and  decorous 
attention  while  he  follows  to  the  letter  dictations  with  the 
gifts  which  would  often  tax  the  ingenuity  of  an  adult,  who 
often  expresses  amazement  at  Johnny's  ability,  as  well  may  he ; 
Johnny  must  show  no  enthusiasm  over  a  chance  or  surrepti- 
tious discovery,  made  by  himself,  must  place  his  material  in 
accurate  accordance  with  the  dictations,  and  then  like  a  good 
boy  replace  his  gift  into  the  little  box  to  the  tune  of  one,  two, 
three.  Will  not  the  conscientious  kindergartener  recall  with 
me  many  a  childish  sigh  of  relief  as  the  eight  tiny  cubes  are 
finally  deposited  in  the  proper  box,  with  appropriate  ceremony, 


20  PAST   YEAR'S  WORK. 

and  see  again  the  stretching  arms  and  legs,  aching  for  a  run 
and  a  prance,  after  a  period  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  minutes 
of  this  enforced  quiet?  After  all  this  painstaking  devotion 
to  Johnny's  temporal  and  spiritual  welfare,  why  does  he  not 
go  home  refreshed  and  healthily  hungry,  eager  to  come  again 
to  drink  of  this  fountain?  Because  he  has  had  too  much,  be- 
cause his  mind  is  confused  and  his  nerves  unstrung  by  the  nu- 
merous and  varied  demands  made  upon  him. 

The  results  of  the  discussion  and  studies  made  by  the  Sem- 
inary led  to  the  adoption  of  the  following  curriculum  early  in 
January : 

I.  Prayer,  Singing,  Movement  Songs,     Stories,     Mother 
Goose  Stories,  Aesop's  Fables,  Anderson  or  Grimm. 

II.  Blackboard  Illustration  of  Story.    Children  tell  story. 

III.  Recess.     Free  Play.     Balls,  Incentive  for  Individual 
Plays — dolls,  reins,  toys,  bubbles,  the  sand  pile,  etc. 

IV.  Number — Counting  or  groups  with  objects.    Beads  or 
other  suitable  kindergarten  material. 

V.  Use  of  objects,  pictures  and  picture  books  as  language 
incentives. 

VI.  Recess.     Free  play  with  incentives. 

VII.  Free  use  of  clay,  sand  table,  paper  cutting  or  other  kin- 
dergarten material  without  dictations. 

This  curriculum  has  been  in  use  since  January,  and  while 
at  first  there  was  some  difficulty  in  smooth  adjustment,  in  a 
month  the  beneficial  results  became  manifest,  the  equilibrium 
between  freedom  of  choice  and  spontaneity  of  expression,  and 
proper  obedience  and  discipline  became  apparent,  and  the  ben- 
eficial effects  of  free  play  in  the  open  air  were  satisfactory  ev- 
idence of  the  usefulness  of  this  very  practical  curriculum.  I 
call  it  practical,  because  it  was  arranged  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  the  primary  school,  leaving  undone  those  things 
for  which  the  primary  teacher  had  no  time  or  material.  Of 
one  primary  teacher,  after  a  trial  of  children  who  had  been 
three  months  under  this  training  has  a  significance  of  peculiar 
meaning  when  she  says:  "The  children  are  more  obedient, 
more  self-reliant,  more  prompt  to  comprehend  my  requests 
than  any  children  who  have  ever  come  to  me  from  any  kinder- 
garten." 


PAST   YEAR'S  WORK.  21 

PARENTS'  MEETINGS: — For  the  mutual  benefit  of  parents 
and  kindergartners,  Parents'  meetings  were  organized  shortly 
after  the  opening  of  the  kindergartens,  and  held  in  each  ward 
once  a  month.  The  invitations  and  printed  programs  sent 
out  met  with  a  generous  attendance  in  response,  the  program 
being  arranged  to  interest  and  benefit  the  parents,  and  pro- 
viding a  review  on  some  phase  of  child  life,  a  lesson  in  music, 
a  lesson  in  the  use  of  kindergarten  material  in  the  home,  and 
opportunity  and  encouragement  for  free  discussion  of  the 
subject  for  the  day  by  those  present. 

During  the  twenty  meetings  which  were  held  the  following 
topics  were  reviewed  and  discussed : 

Children's  Play  Activities ;  A  Study  of  Dolls,  Hall  and  Ellis; 
Questionaire  on  Children's  Discipline  of  Dolls  distributed; 
Children's  Lies,  G.  Stanley  Hall;  Punishment — Review  of 
Barnes'  Discipline;  Punishment,  Caroline  Frear;  Chapter  on 
Punishment  by  Herbert  Spencer ;  Children's  Attitude  Toward 
Law,  Estelle  M.  Darrah;  Punishment  as  Seen  by  Children, 
Barnes;  Children's  Time  Sense,  D.  S.  Snedden;  Children's 
Drawings,  illustrations  of  Stories;  The  Story  Interest;  Babies 
and  Monkeys,  Buckman;  Food,  Clothing,  Ventilation,  and 
Sleep  from  a  Physician's  Standpoint;  Effects  of  Punishment 
from  a  Medical  Point  of  View;  Truancy,  L.  W.  Cline.  The 
discussion  of  the  study  of  dolls  resulted  in  a  generous  contri- 
bution of  dolls  to  the  four  kindergartens,  and  a  marked  in- 
crease of  dolls  in  the  homes,  especially  for  boys. 

INTEREST  AND  AID  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  ASSOCIATION  : — 

Other  gifts  in  the  shape  of  toys,  picture  books,  four  sets  of 
building  blocks  of  large  size,  toy  dishes,  small  wagon  for  crip- 
pled child  to  be  used  during  the  walks,  three  comfortable 
lounges  for  the  comfort  of  crippled  children,  stand-table,  ca- 
nary birds,  potted  plants,  large  clock  with  swinging  pendulum, 
swings,  see-saws,  money  for  shoes  and  other  necessities,  an 
abundance  of  comfortable  clothing  have  been  generously  con- 
tributed during  the  year  by  friends  interested  in  the  kinder- 
gartens, through  the  helpful  influence  of  the  Kindergarten 
Association.  Santa  Barbara  may  well  be  proud  of  the  active 


22  PAST   YEAR'S  WORK. 

force  of  wide-awake  and  progressive  women,  who,  as  an  aso- 
ciation,  are  a  power  in  the  community  for  the  uplifting  of  hu- 
manity, by  putting  into  the  lives  of  the  little  ones  those  influ- 
ences which  promote  the  desire  for  self-activity  and  self-help. 
The  amount  of  good  work  that  has  been  done  by  this  Asso- 
ciation this  year  can  not  be  estimated  in  dollars  and  cents,  and 
its  value  to  the  community  can  not  be  too  higly  estimated  by 
the  citizens  of  Santa  Barbara.  Let  these  ladies  once  feel  the 
necessity  for  any  progressive  change  or  improvement  of  pres- 
ent conditions,  and  the  response  comes  quickly  and  generously. 
Two  of  the  rooms  used  for  the  purpose  being  unsuitable,  the 
Kindergarten  Association,  through  the  earnest  efforts  of  the 
President,  Mrs.  M.  D.  Tallant,  built  two  new  buildings  on  the 
school  grounds,  planned  to  meet  the  needs  and  advantages  of 
the  mild  and  even  climate  of  the  coast.  These  buildings  were 
first  occupied  in  January.  Perhaps  the  most  novel  and  pleas- 
ing features  of  these  buildings  are  the  large  sliding  doors 
placed  in  two  adjacent  sides  so  that  the  rooms  may  be  practi- 
cally thrown  open  to  the  outside  world  of  fresh  air  and  sun- 
shine, bees,  birds,  and  blossoms,  and  the  objection  to  shutting 
children  away  from  the  healthful  influences  of  sea  breezes  and 
the  direct  rays  of  sunlight  is  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The 
rooms  are  well  lighted  by  oblong  windows  placed  lengthwise 
in  doors  and  walls,  with  long  shelves  under  the  windows  and 
above  the  hyloplate  blackboards,  where  growing  plants,  gold 
fish,  and  objects  of  interest  attract  and  hold  the  wandering  at- 
tention of  the  little  ones  upon  pleasing  and  suggestive  objects, 
rather  than  upon  blank  walls,  or  pictures  too  lofty,  literally  or 
figuratively,  for  their  simple  comprehension.  The  advantage 
of  separate  buildings  for  kindergartens  is  so  obvious  as  to  need 
no  comment  further  than  the  fact  that  there  is  no  necessity  nor 
excuse  for  suppressing  the  spontaneity  of  child  life  where  the 
kindergarten  is  independent  of  the  restrictive  outside  condi- 
tions, which  a  too  close  proximity  to  the  school  is  certain  to  im- 
pose. Too  much  credit  can  not  be  given  to  the  self-sacrifice 
and  indomitable  equanimity  under  discouragements  of  Mrs. 
Tallant  in  securing,  through  the  co-operation  of  the  Associa- 
tion these  modern,  up-to-date  buildings,  fitted  with  all  that 
loving  hearts  and  wise  heads  could  suggest  for  the  comfort 


PAST   YEAR'S  WORK.  .  23 

and  happiness  of  Santa  Barbara's  little  ones.  She  has  proven 
through  her  connection  with  the  Association  as  a  charter  mem- 
ber for  thirteen  years,  her  wise  management  as  president  of 
the  affairs  of  that  body  for  five  years,  her  regular  attendance 
at  seminary  and  teachers'  meetings,  a  devotion  to  the  cause 
which  she  upholds,  which  makes  her  as  true  a  friend  of  educa- 
tion and  the  children,  as  ever  could  be  said  of  Froebel. 

The  present  president,  Dr.  Ida  V.  Stambach,  brings  to  the 
work  as  staunch  a  friend  and  vigorous  a  worker  as  the  fore- 
going president.  One  of  her  first  acts  was  to  bring  before  the 
notice  of  the  Association  the  value  of  a  covered  pavilion  where 
the  children  might  work  and  play  in  the  open  air  in  large  sand 
bins,  where  they  could  be  protected  from  the  heat  of  the  sun, 
yet  receive  the  full  benefit  of  its  healthful  influence.  The  re- 
sult is  a  fine  pavilion  in  the  Third  ward,  with  ingenious  ar- 
rangements of  hinged  shelves,  so  that  the  children  in  pleasant 
weather  may  be  out  of  doors  the  whole  morning,  working, 
modeling,  drawing,  singing  through  the  flying  moments,  which 
makes  a  morning  of  happiness  all  too  short  for  the  contented 
children. 

ORPHA  M.  QUAYLE,  Supervisor. 


Some  Neurological  Conditions  of  Childhood. 

The  esential  contention  of  education  viewed  from  the 
standpoint  of  modern  child  phychology  is  that  there  are 
epochs  or  stages  in  the  child's  mental  and  physical  growth,  that 
each  higher  stage  is  reached  by  passing  through  a  more  prim- 
itive stage,  and  that  the  lower  stage  may  be  essentially  differ- 
ent in  character  from  the  higher  stage.  For  example,  it  is  clear 
that  the  moral  nature  of  the  adult  is  only  obtained  by  passing 
through  lower  phases,  many  of  which  are  "unmoral"  or  even 
immoral  judged  by  adult  standards.  The  criticism  which  is 
passed  upon  many  of  the  attempts  of  the  old  education  is  that 
efforts  have  been  made  to  make  late  activities  and  conceptions 
grow  in  lower  stages.  The  modern  sciences  have  done  much  to 
establish  the  truth  of  this  contention  and  child  psychology  iri 
the  past  decade  has  been  busily  engaged  in  gathering  data  from 
the  various  sciences  and  by  observation  of  its  special  field  to 
mark  out  the  fence  lines  of  these  stages  in  the  development  of 
the  various  physical  and  mental  activities,  though  of  course, 
as  yet,  results  are  by  no  means  clear  and  definite  in  detail.  We 
are  yet  in  the  pioneer  phase  of  the  work. 

The  struggle  between  the  old  and  new  education  is  perhaps 
more  difficult  in  the  field  of  kindergarten  education  than  in 
school  education  for  two  reasons:  First,  the  kindergarten  is 
furthest  removed  from  adult  life,  consequently  the  antithesis 
is  most  marked  and  efforts  to  force  adult  activities  are  neces- 
sarily more  striking.  In  the  second  place,  school  education, 
especially  in  America,  is  more  largely  a  product  of  experience, 
while  the  kindergarten  scheme  of  education  has  been  derived 
more  purely  from  philosophy,  and  again  especially  in  America, 
it  has  been  promulgated  chiefly  by  the  Hegelian  metaphysical 
movement.  The  sweetly  poetic  and  pantheistic  conceptions 
of  Froebel  have  been  translated  and  interpreted  into  the  stil) 
more  vague  metaphysical  phraseology  of  the  Hegelian  school 


NEUROLOGICAL  CONDITIONS.  25 

until  the  real  experience  products  of  Froebel's  teaching  have 
become  will-o'-the-wisps  in  the  burying  ground  of  a  deceased 
cult  of  metaphysics. 

Modern  neurology  is  giving  the  principle  of  stages  in  devel- 
opment a  sound  scientific  basis.  We  have  learned  that  the 
nervous  system,  which  is  an  essential  factor  not  only  in  all 
physical  but  in  all  mental  activity  as  well,  is  a  republic  of  more 
or  less  independent  parts,  each  having  for  its  function  some 
particular  physical  or  mental  activity.  While  as  yet  the  loca- 
tion and  connections  of  these  parts  have  not  been  fully  mapped 
out  in  detail,  yet  several  are  known — the  centers  of  the  vari- 
ous bodily  movements,  of  sight,  hearing  and  speech  in  the 
brain  cortex,  for  example.  Secondly,  we  know  that  the  nerv- 
ous system  is  constructed  upon  a  plan  of  superposition  of  struc- 
tures. The  centers  for  the  cruder,  more  inaccurate  movements 
of  the  arm  and  hand,  for  example,  are  located  in  the  spinal 
cord.  The  more  accurate,  delicate  control  of  the  fingers,  arm 
and  hand,  which  have  been  developed  by  the  more  modern 
forms  of  civilization,  is  directed  by  cells  in  the  brain.  These 
cells  do  not  send  out  fibers  to  the  arm  directly,  paralleling  those 
from  the  original  cells  in  the  spinal  cord,  but  they  send  down 
fibres  merely  to  these  latter  cells  so  modifying  and  introducing 
new  factors  into  their  direction,  that  the  muscles  gain  new 
powers  of  accuracy,  delicacy  and  possibly  of  strength.  This 
fact  is  neatly  shown  in  forms  of  paralysis  where  the  disease 
first  attacks  the  brain  cells  of  a  certain  area;  not  all  the  move- 
ments of  the  member  become  affected,  but  only  the  more  ac- 
curate and  delicate,  for  the  reason  that  the  movements  con- 
trolled by  the  lower  centers  in  the  spinal  cord  are  still  healthy. 
Thirdly,  mainly  through  the  researches  of  Dr.  Paul  Flechsig 
of  Leipzic  upon  the  nervous  system  of  the  foetus 
and  infants,  it  has  been  clearly  shown  that  these  levels,  or  lay- 
ers, of  the  nervous  system  begin  to  mature  at  different  periods. 
The  spinal  cord  is  well  matured  at  birth,  while  the  brain  cortex 
is  wholly  immature.  The  movements  which  occur  before,  and 
many  of  which  occur  for  a  long  time  after  birth  are  directed 
wholly  by  cells  in  the  spinal  cord,  medulla  oblongata  and 
pons.  Gradually,  and  by  definite  periods,  cells  and  fibres 
ripen  in  an  upward  direction,  commencing  first  in  the  areas  ly- 


26  NEUROLOGICAL  CONDITIONS. 

ing  about  the  fissure  of  Rolando  which  controls  the  bodily 
movements;  in  the  visual  area,  located  in  the  occipital  region; 
and  the  auditory  centers,  located  in  the  first  temporal  convo- 
lution. Flechsig  shows  further  that  throughout  the  brain  the 
other  areas  have  different  and  more  or  less  definite  times  for 
coming  to  maturity  so  that  they  can  be  used.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  facts  derived  from  studies  upon  the  brains  of  in- 
sane adults  show  a  progress  of  disease  in  the  reverse  direc- 
tion by  similar  stages.  In  fact,  with  the  introduction  of  the 
level  principle  in  the  application  to  mental  disease  in  England 
some  thirty  years  ago  by  Dr.  Hughlings  Jackson,  medical 
practice  has  been  entirely  revolutionized  and  placed  upon  a  new 
basis. 

Education  is  now  struggling  for  the  same  principle  in  ped- 
agogic practice.  With  the  recognition  that  the  nervous  system 
is  built  up  by  superposed  layers,  that  there  is  an  order,  estab- 
lished by  fixed  laws  of  heredity,  in  the  order  of  development  of 
these  nerve  cells  and  that  it  is  necessary  for  the  lower  layers 
or  levels  to  be  fostered  and  developed  to  their  legitimate  ma- 
turity by  suitable  exercises,  to  the  end  that  the  next  higher 
levels  of  nerve  centers  may  have  a  substantial  basis,  we  step 
firmly  to  the  pedagogic  application  that  there  are  superposed 
levels  in  the  child's  education,  that  there  is  an  order  of  devel- 
opment established  by  fixed  laws  of  heredity,  for  the  deeper  and 
more  fundamental  activity  of  mental  and  physical  life.  From 
this  standpoint,  we  must  recognize  pedagogically  that  there  is, 
for  example,  a  system  of  primitive  child  morals,  derived  from 
heredity,  which  must  have  its  period  before  adult  conceptions 
of  morals  can  be  developed.  So  with  art,  literature,  number, 
reasoning,  religion,  play,  physical  culture,  etc.  And  on  the 
other  hand,  we  must  not  be  zealous  in  forcing  upon  the  kin- 
dergarten child  adolescent  forms  of  these  activities,  for  the 
child  is  not  a  little  adult,  but  rather  a  seed. 

Flechsig's  studies,  however,  deal  merely  with  the  begin- 
nings of  development  of  nerve  centers.  His  method  is  not 
serviceable  when  the  nervous  system  becomes  so  well  devel- 
oped and  complexity  baffles  the  powers  of  the  microscope. 
Other  investigators,  however,  have  shown  this  principle  of  de- 
velopment is  continued  very  actively  throughout  childhood  and 


NEUROLOGICAL  CONDITIONS.  27 

adolescence,  and  in  lessened  degree  throughout  adult  life  until 
the  disintegration  of  old  age  sets  in.  There  are  no  clean-cut 
breaks  in  development  we  know,  and  while  we  cannot  lay  off, 
except  arbitrarily,  the  beginning  and  ending  points  of  the 
growth  period  of  any  activity,  nevertheless  we  may  perhaps 
recognize  certain  classes  of  activities  as  predominating  in  cer- 
tain periods  of  life.  We  have  seen  that  the  first  centers  of  the 
nervous  system  to  develop  are  those  of  the  spinal  cord,  medulla 
and  pons,  controlling  the  more  primitive  movements  of  the 
body,  that  some  months  later  the  centers  of  the  higher  level 
of  these  movements,  located  in  the  brain  cortex,  representing 
the  more  delicate  and  accurate  modifications  of  these  move- 
ments, together  with  the  sense  centers  of  sight,  hearing,  touch, 
taste  and  smell,  begin  to  mature.  The  first  level  has  its  period 
of  predominating  nasceny  in  the  embryological  period  and 
during  infancy.  The  second  level  begins  in  infancy  and  con- 
tinues as  a  predominating  activity  until  the  child  is  six  or  seven 
years  of  age,  facts  of  observation  assure  us.  Later  is  a  period 
when  the  centers  lying  about  the  sense  centers  and  those  for 
bodily  movement  and  representing  a  still  higher  level  having 
to  do  with  memories  of  things  seen,  heard,  felt  and  tasted  and 
their  associations  develop.  We  know  from  researches  upon  the 
brains  of  the  insane,  from  aphasic  patients  and  those  suffering 
from  paralysis,  that  there  are  such  areas  separate  from  the 
lower  levels  of  sense.  For  example,  there  are  cases  of  patients 
who  hear  distinctly  the  sound  of  words  spoken  to  them,  but 
are  unable  to  understand  the  meaning.  Post-mortem  exam- 
ination has  shown  a  healthy  condition  of  the  auditory  sense 
center  in  the  temporal  convolution,  but  diseased  conditions  are 
found  in  adjacent  area  lying  in  the  supra-marginal  convolu- 
tion. These  patients  are  in  an  analogous  condition  to  the  in- 
fant who  can  hear  sounds,  but  the  adjacent  center  for  obtaining 
meaning  from  them  is  as  yet  undeveloped.  Again  from  objec- 
tive observations  upon  children  we  may  come  to  the  tentative 
conclusion,  roughly  speaking,  that  the  period  from  six  to  seven 
until  eleven  or  twelve  represents  a  period  of  predominating  ac- 
tivity in  these  still  higher  levels  of  nerve  centers  representing 
the  memories  of  the  senses  and  their  associations  with  other 
centers  which  give  a  wider  range  to  thought. 


28  NEUROLOGICAL  CONDITIONS. 

Still  the  child  can  not  reason  without  the  presence  or  clear 
memory  picture  of  the  object.  He  has  no  abstract  concep- 
tions, nor  can  his  thought  travel  far  without  the  aid  of  objects, 
sensed  or  remembered.  There  are  regions  of  the  brain,  rep- 
resenting considerably  more  than  one-half  in  area,  which  seem 
to  have  nothing  directly  to  do  with  the  senses  or  bodily  move- 
ment. They  may  be  severely  injured  without  causing  death 
or  any  great  impairment  of  bodily  or  sense  powers.  Many  stu- 
dents unhesitatingly  attribute  to  them  the  functions  of  higher 
reason,  abstract  thinking,  etc.  There  is  much  in  the  study 
of  the  insane  and  aphasic  patients  to  sustain  the  view.  It  is 
further  held  by  some,  upon  grounds  of  neurological  observa- 
tion, that  the  cells  in  this  region  constitute  the  highest  levels, 
that  the  fibres  do  not  extend  great  distances,  but  merely  reach 
to  the  cells  of  the  sense  areas  already  described.  They  bear 
the  same  anatomical  relation  to  the  cells  of  the  next  lower  level, 
that  the  cells  in  the  lowest  brain  levels  bear  to  the  cells  of  the 
spinal  cord — i.  e.,  they  extend  down  and  modify  and  more  or 
less  control  the  lower  cells,  introducing  new,  more  accurate 
and  delicate  activities.  Again  there  is  much  evidence  to  show 
that  they  are  the  latest  of  all  brain  structures  to  mature.  From 
the  standpoint  of  observation  of  human  action,  we  perhaps 
may  put  their  predominating  growth  in  the  adolescent  age, 
from  ii  or  12  to  25  years.  They  do  not  parallel  old  forms  of 
activity,  but  modify  them.  Following  the  principle  of  nervous 
growth,  they  need  for  their  healthful  existence  the  lower  struc- 
tures, and  these  lower  structures  must  have  made  full  use  of 
their  growing  period  in  order  to  constitute  a  healthy  basis  for 
the  highest  level. 

Summing  up,  we  may  conclude  tentatively  as  to  details,  that 
we  may  see  three  or  four  great  periods  in  the  development  of 
the  child — first,  a  period  of  early  infancy,  when  the  predom- 
inating amount  of  growth  is  taking  place  in  the  spinal  cord 
and  lowest  centers;  secondly,  a  period  extending  from  infancy 
until  six  or  seven,  when  the  predominating  growth  takes  place 
in  brain  levels  of  bodily  action  and  in  the  sense  centers ;  thirdly, 
a  period  from  six  or  seven  until  puberty,  when  the  predomin- 
ating activity  is  in  the  level  above  the  sense  centers,  memories 
and  their  association  one  with  the  other,  and  these  are  intro- 


NEUROLOGICAL  CONDITIONS.  29 

ducing  their  modifying  influences  upon  the  lower  centers; 
fourthly,  the  period  of  adolescence,  when  from  the  highest  lev- 
els the  entire  nervous  system  is  again  centrally  co-ordinated, 
the  power  of  thought  without  the  direct  use  of  objects  or  their 
memories  becomes  possible.  So  far  as  neurological  data  give 
evidence,  the  order  of  development  is  ever  from  those  structures 
which  are  oldest  in  the  race  towards  those  which  are  the  most 
recent.  The  child  repeats  in  a  general  way  at  least  the  tenden- 
cies of  his  hereditary  history,  and  in  the  order  of  racial  evolu- 
tion. The  lowest  centers,  which  are  the  most  primitive  are 
least  subject  to  modification.  They  represent  what  is  instinc- 
tive. Education,  in  the  sense  of  modification  of  hereditary 
bents,  is  now  least  possible.  Education,  for  these,  is  exercise  of 
them.  Education,  as  a  factor  of  modification,  is  best  applicable 
to  the  highest  and  latest  structures.  The  kindergarten  child 
thinks  in  his  lower  brain  levels  and  demands  from  education 
the  opportunity  and  incentives  for  free  activity  of  his  lower 
instinctive  activities  to  the  end  that  by  their  strengthening,  ed- 
ucation by  modification  in  the  adolescent  period  shall  have  a 
well  developed  foundation.  The  function  of  education  for  ad- 
lescents  may  be,  and  doubtless  should  largely  be,  the  adaptation 
of  the  pupil  to  the  world  in  which  we  live — to  its  conceptions 
and  methods  of  material  living,  of  literature,  of  art,  and  of 
morals  and  religion.  His  highest  nerve  centers  are  pliable, 
easy  to  bend  and  train  to  form  new  associations.  But  the  kin- 
dergarten child  is  yet  passing  through  the  deep  worn  ravines 
of  primitive  life.  His  morals,  his  art,  his  literature,  his  relig- 
ion are  of  a  primitive  type,  dealing  largely  with  bodily  move- 
ments, sense  ideas  and  their  memories.  Much  of  it,  doubtless, 
is  mere  scaffolding  which  must  be  substituted  for  when  the 
highest  centers  of  his  brain  take  control.  We  must  let  his  ten- 
dencies lead  us  to  the  end  that  he  may  as  an  adolescent  follow 
ours. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

i  Paul  Flechsig:  Die  Leitungsbahnen  im  Gehirn  und 
Ruckenmark,  Leipzig,  1876;  2.  Gehirn  und  Seele,  1896;  3. 
Die  Localization  der  Geistigen  Vorgange  inbeson<?ere  der 
Sinnes  empfindungen,  1896. 


30  NEUROLOGICAL  CONDITIONS. 

4.  Oscar  Vulpius :  Archiv.  f .  Psychiat  u.  Nervenkrankeiten, 
vol.  XXIII,  1892. 

5.  Kaes,  Ueber  den  Markfasergehalt    der    Hirnrinde    bei 
pathologischen  Gehirn,  Deutsch  W'chr.,  No.  10  and  n,  1898. 

6.  H.  H.  Donaldson,  Education  of  the  Nervous  System,  Ed. 
Rev.  N.  Y.,  Feb.  1895. 

7.  R.  P.  Halleck,  The  Education  of  the  Central  Nervous 
System,  Macmillan  Co.,  1897. 

8.  R.  P.  Halleck,  The  Bearings  of  the  Laws  of  Cerebral  De- 
velopment and  Modifications  on  Child  Study,  Proc.  N.  E.  A., 

1897. 

9.  Charles  Mercier,  The  Nervous  System  and  Mind,  Mac- 
millan Co.,  1888. 

10.  H.  H.  Donaldson,  Growth  of  the  Brain,  Scribners,  1895. 

11.  Frederic  Burk,  From  Fundamental  to  Accessory  in  the 
Development  of  the  Nervous  System  and  of  Movements,  Ped- 
agogical Seminary,  October,  1898. 

FREDERIC  BURK. 


Physical  Culture. 

The  kindergarten  ages  cover  a  period  when  the 'largest 
proportion  of  the  movements  of  the  human  body  are  becoming 
adjusted  and  co-ordinated.  It  is  the  period  pre-eminent  of 
the  adjustment  of  nerve  and  muscle  in  all  the  coarser,  more 
fundamental  movements.  Neurological  investigation  of  recent 
years  has  shown  that  the  first  portions  of  the  brain  of  the 
infant  to  mature  are  the  sensory  motor  centers  having  to  do 
with  bodily  movements,  lying  about  the  fissure  of  Rolando, 
and  on  the  side  of  child  observation  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
for  the  first  six  years  of  life  these  activities  are  passing 
through  their  periods  of  nascency.  The  child  is  actively 
exercising  his  body,  legs  and  arms  in  their  more  general  and 
cruder  usages.  It  is  the  period  of  instinctive  movements  when 
the  child  is  receiving  from  race  heredity  the  movements  and 
actions  his  ancestors  have  used.  In  a  later  period  he  adds 
those  finer  adjustments  of  finger  and  eye  in  accurate  manipu- 
lations which  are  the  products,  to  a  greater  degree,  of  his  own 
individuality  and  experience.  The  movements  he  makes,  the 
plays  he  most  enjoys,  the  exercises  in  which  he  most  readily 
takes  part,  are  those  in  which  children  of  all  human  history 
have  ever  participated,  and  which  for  primitive  man  consti- 
tuted his  chief  employment.  There  is  reason  for  believing, 
in  conformity  with  these  facts,  that  the  portions  of  the  child's 
nervous  system  which  are  maturing  up  to  six  or  seven  years 
of  age  are  those  which  are  old  and  well  established,  racially— 
structures  so  well  determined  that  attempted  modification  of 
them  by  corrective  training  is  difficult  if  not  dangerous. 

Roberts,  the  English  anthropometrist,  reports  that  while 
it  is  easy,  by  systematic  exercise,  to  develop  the  body  of  the 
boy  after  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age,  it  is  not  possible  to 


32  PHYSICAL  CULTURE. 

do  so  before  that  time — the  muscles  will  not  "train."  There 
are  many  physiological  changes  which  take  place  during  the 
pubertal  age  to  account  for  this  fact.  The  nascent  period  for 
growth  of  the  lungs,  which  seems  intimately  connected  with 
the  development  of  strength  and  muscularity  in  general,  is 
after  twelve  years.  About  half  the  strength  of  a  boy  of  six- 
teen years  is  acquired  in  the  last  four  years  of  that  period,  as 
shown  by  the  dynamometer  tests  in  America  and  England. 

Physical  culture  in  unfortunate  parlance  has  come  to  mean 
a  set  of  calesthenics,  aesthetic  marchings,  systematic  plays  or 
dictated  games.  Experience,  pedagogic  theory  and  hygiene 
make  it  equally  questionable  that  such  exercises  have  any  place 
in  the  kindergarten.  There  is  no  evidence  in  the  childhood 
period  of  any  system  of  logical  order  in  the  development  of 
the  various  human  movements,  nor  of  any  system  to  which 
we  have  a  practical  key.  On  the  contrary,  movements  appear 
in  childhood  in  a  series  that  to  the  adult  mind  with  love  of 
orderly  system  seems  vagrant  caprice.  The  infant  at  birth 
is  born  with  a  power  to  grip  the  hand  with  a  force  that  is 
marvelous,  yet  he  is  unable  to  use  his  thumb  until  five 
or  six  months  are  passed.  The  tendency  of  most  young 
infants,  again,  is  to  use  their  eyes  independently,  and  it  is 
only  until  several  months  are  passed  that  co-ordinated  direc- 
tion of  the  eyes  is  firmly  established;  yet,  on  the  other  hand, 
an  infant  is  several  months  old  before  he  can  direct  one  hand 
in  a  movement  without  having  the  other  hand  duplicate  the 
same  movement.  Why  should  a  two-eyed  and  a  two-handed 
human  child  grow  out  from  bilateral  movement  in  the  case 
of  the  hands  and  into  it  in  the  case  of  the  eyes?  The  imme- 
diate cause,  of  course,  is  in  certain  inherited  structural  arrange- 
ments of  his  nervous  system,  finding  root,  doubtless,  in  the  fact 
that  throughout  all  lower  animal  life  the  use  of  the  forelimbs 
has  been  bilateral,  while  the  eyes  have  moved,  largely,  inde- 
pendently of  one  another.  These  are  merely  illustrations.  The 
order  of  early  development  is  regulated  by  internal  heredity, 
and  deeply  worn  laws,  and  we  pedagogues  have  not  yet  copied 
them  from  nature's  text  book. 

Does  it  follow,  in  consequence,  that  physical  culture  has 
no  place  in  the  kindergarten?  By  no  means.  As  will  be 


PHYSICAL   CULTURE.  33 

shown  in  the  study  upon  the  spontaneous  physical  activities  of 
the  Santa  Barbara  kindergarten  children,  nature  has  provided 
her  physical  culture  school  in  children's  instinctive  plays,  and 
her  instructor  in  their  instinctive  preferences  for  this  play  or 
that,  is  interest.  When  our  stomachs  need  food,  hunger  in- 
forms us;  when  overwork  intervenes,  fatigue  warns  us.  When 
the  time  arrives  for  the  bird  to  learn  to  fly,  a  child  to  creep  or 
walk,  an  instinctive  feeling  impels  the  activity.  When  the 
nerve  cells  which  control  any  activity  become  mature,  their 
surcharged  energy  tends  to  discharge  in  certain  courses  of 
movement.  Children's  instinctive  plays  are  the  products  of 
these  impulses.  The  games  made  up  of  jumping,  running, 
pursuing,  throwing,  do  answer  these  instinctive  impulses. 
They  are  the  products  of  ages  of  natural  selection.  The  plays 
which  do  not  give  the  discharge  to  these  inner  feelings  have 
been  discarded,  while  those  which  do  are  called  into  requisi- 
tion repeatedly.  Nature  is  also  a  guide  to  the  amount  of  exer- 
cise. Weariness  compels  quiet  and  time  for  recuperation. 
When  we  think  of  the  number  of  physical  movements  which 
are  passing  through  their  critical  periods  of  nascency  during 
the  kindergarten  period,  their  delicacy,  and  the  necessity  for 
the  untrammeled  freedom  to  play  or  to  rest,  we  cannot  but  be 
brought  to  the  realization  that  the  intelligent  attention  of  the 
kindergarten  should  be  given  to  this  field  of  education.  As  stated, 
it  is  impossible  to  prescribe  the  system  or  order  of  exercise,  for 
those  are  matters  beyond  our  ken,  but  the  kindergarten  can 
guard  the  child's  right  to  play,  encourage  it  by  providing  free 
and  frequent  opportunities  and  incentives  for  all  kinds  of  exer- 
cise— clean  sand  to  roll,  build  and  model  in,  mounds  to  jump 
from,  trees  and  poles  to  climb,  balustrades  to  slide  from,  paths 
to  run  in,  bushes  to  hide  in,  balls  to  throw,  hammers  with 
which  to  pound,  garden  tools,  saws,  and  plenty  of  room  for 
romping,  chasing,  and  other  similar  activities.  Not  only  can 
the  kindergarten,  thus  directly,  give  incentives  for  the  free 
plays,  but  the  suggestions  which  the  kindergarten  offers  will 
be  used  in  hours  at  home.  And  where  is  time  for  all  this  play 
outside  the  regular  kindergarten  curriculum  to  come  from? 
Frankly,  I  do  not  know.  When  we  think  of  what  an  intelli- 
gent kindergarten  could  accomplish  in  thus  protecting  the 


34  PHYSICAL   CULTURE. 

child's  right  and  need  for  his  instinctive  plays,  the  all-day 
kindergarten  with  at  least  half  the  time  scattered  about  in  free 
recesses  seems  to  rise  as  the  institution  of  the  future.  But 
certainly  under  present  conditions  we  have  no  right,  peda- 
gogical, physiological,  or  hygienic,  to  pen  up  children,  from 
four  to  six  years  of  age,  for  three  hours  with  only  one  recess 
of  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes.  The  excuse  frequently  offered 
that  children  are  engaged  in  the  kindergarten  games  is  an 
untenable  one.  In  the  German  schools  numerous  psycho-physi- 
cal tests  have  been  made  upon  the  recuperative  value  of  turn- 
ing, gymnastic  exercises,  etc.  It  has  been  shown  that  these  are 
more  fatiguing  than  the  mental  school  work  and  should  not  be 
interpolated,  even  in  the  higher  school  grades,  as  a  recuperative 
means.  Kraepelin,  the  foremost  investigator  of  the  influences  of 
fatigue,  condemns  it,  and  the  studies  of  Wagner,  Kemsies  and 
others  agree  in  the  same  conclusion,  and  further  that  spontane- 
ous play  is  less  fatiguing  than  the  set  exercises.  The  essence 
of  play  for  young  children  is  that  it  should  be  directed  by  the 
hereditary  and  instinctive  impulses  from  within,  and  the  aes- 
thetic, or  morally  instinctive  games  of  the  kindergarten  are 
to  be  ranked  with  a  diet  of  beefsteak  for  suckling  infants — they 
are  grossly  premature. 

II.  DRAWING,  AS  HAND  AND  EYE  EXERCISE.  As  soon  as 
the  child  enters  school,  at  the  age  of  six  years,  he  is 
taught  to  write — an  exercise  of  hand  and  eye  co-ordina- 
tion of  extreme  delicacy.  This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss 
the  hygienic  justice  of  the  requirement  of  the  primary  school. 
The  simple  fact  is  that  children  of  six  years  are  required  to 
write,  and  probably  will  be,  despite  the  wrong  or  the  right  of 
the  matter.  Can  the  kindergarten  prepare  the  child  for  this 
sudden  demand  upon  hand  and  eye  adjustments?  Fortunately, 
the  facts  are  clear  that  the  child  is  favored  in  the  matter  by  two 
strong  instincts  admirably  adapted  to  serve  the  purpose  of 
preparation — the  instinct  for  ball  throwing  and  the  instinct 
for  drawing.  If  balls  are  kept  in  access  of  children  there  will 
be  found  few  recesses  at  which  they  are  not  in  use.  The 
throwing  of  a  ball  exercises  the  more  fundamental  adjust- 
ments of  arm,  wrist  and  hand,  and  serves  as  a  valuable  prepa- 
ration to  all  hand  movements.  Any  one  who  doubts  its  value 


UN: 


PHYSICAL   CULTURE.  35 

should  read  those  two  educational  classics,  by  Edouard  Seguin, 
"The  Psycho-physiological  Training  of  the  Idiotic  Hand," 
and  "The  Psycho-physiological  Training  of  the  Idiotic  Eye." 
The  drawing  instinct  will  later  be  discussed  as  a  lan- 
guage incentive.  Let  us  now  regard  it  as  a  physical  exercise 
in  preparing  the  hand  for  the  more  delicate  adjustments  of 
writing.  It  should  commence  with  blackboard  exercises  and 
illustrations  of  stories  of  interest.  The  blackboard  position 
prevents  a  rest  of  the  wrist  with  that  cramped  use  of  the  fin- 
gers, and  insists  upon  large,  free  arm  movement.  The  chalk 
does  not  require  the  finger  strength  which  a  pencil  does. 
Gradually,  however,  work  with  the  pencil  upon  paper  may  be 
used,  but  always  in  such  a  free  way  that  the  child  does  not 
weary.  Later  the  brush  and  the  water  colors  may  find  useful 
place,  for  the  brush  requires  a  light  touch  and  prepares  the 
child  to  avoid  that  cramped  twist  and  gripping  of  the  pen  we 
so  often  see  in  the  primary  schools  as  a  certain  evidence  that 
the  hand  is  yet  too  immature  to  use  the  pen. 

Clay  modeling,  also,  has  here  its  place,  provided  children 
are  not  unnaturally  forced  to  strive  for  aesthetic  ideals  or  math- 
ematical exactness  of  form,  for  which  instinct  has  as  yet  made 
no  provision. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

1.  Millicent  Shinn,  Notes  on  the  Development  of  a  Child; 
Univ.  of  Cal.  Studies,  1893. 

2.  Kathleen  C.   Moore,   Mental  Development  of  a  Child, 
Psy.  Rev.  Monograph  Supp.,  No.  3,  Oct.,  1896;  Macmillan 
Co. 

3.  Frederic    Burk,    Growth    of    Children   in    Height    and 
Weight,  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  April,  1898. 

4.  Frederic  Burk,  From  Fundamental  to  Accessory  in  the 
Development  of  the  Nervous  System  and  of  Movements,  Ped- 
agogical Seminary,  October,  1898. 

5.  Edouard  Seguin,  The  Psycho-physiological  Training   of 
an  Idiotic  Hand,  Archives  of  Medicine,  N.  Y.,  1879. 

6.  Mrs.  W.  S.  Hall,  First  Five  Hundred  Days  of  a  Child's 
Life,  Child  Study  Mo.,  Dec.,  1896. 


36  PHYSICAL   CULTURE. 

7.  Louis  Robinson,  Darwinism  in  the  Nursery,  iQth  Cen- 
tury, Nov.,  1895. 

8.  Buckman,  Babies  and  Monkeys,   iQth    Century,    Nov., 
1894. 

9.  Frederic  Burk,  Teasing  and  Bullying,  Pedagogical  Sem- 
inary, April,  1897. 

10.  Alice  B.  Gomme,  The  Traditional  Games  of  England, 
Scotland  and  Ireland,  London,  1894. 

11.  Games  and  Songs  of  American  Children,  N.  Y.,  1894 

12.  Luther  Gulick,  Some  Psychical  Aspects  of  Muscular 
Exercise,  Pop.  Sci.  Mo.,  1898. 

13.  G.  E.  Johnson,  Education  by  Plays  and  Games,  Peda- 
gogical Seminary,  Vol.  Ill,  No.  i. 

14.  James  L.  Hughes,  Educational  Value  of  Play,  Educa- 
tional Review,  Vol.  VIII,  pp-327~36. 

15.  Genevra  Sisson,  Children's    Plays,    Barnes  Studies  in 
Education,  No.  5. 

1 6.  A  Caswell  Ellis  and  G.  Stanley  Hall,  A  Study  of  Dolls 
Pedagogical  Seminary,  Vol.  Ill,  No.  4. 

FREDERIC  BURK. 


PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS. 

When  I  first  entered  upon  my  kindergarten  career,  when  I 
knew  vastly  more  about  the  methods  with  which  the  kinder- 
garten should  be  conducted  than  I  do  now,  the  circle  was  to 
me  the  most  awe-inspiring  institution, — a  most  cherished  sym- 
bol of  unity.  Truly,  it  lies  within  the  realms  of  sacred  tradi- 
tion; little  toes  have  balanced  upon  the  painted  line  for  nearly 
a  generation,  and  so  powerful  is  its  circumferent  force  that  no 
well  bred  child  will  stray  from  the  path  of  virtue  to  put  into 
exuberant  drama  the  thoughts  inspired  by  the  story  of  the 
"Three  Bears,"  or  "Jack  be  Nimble,  Jack  be  Quick;"  nor  will 
a  daring  flight  of  fancy  be  attempted  by  the  timid  fledgling, 
standing  with  toes  planted  with  geometrical  precision  upon 
the  exact  spot  which  indicates  the  revered  center  of  this  magic 
and  all-powerful  fetich,  the  circle.  In  the  well-conducted  and 
properly-disciplined  kindergarten  of  to-day,  the  child  is  dis- 


PHYSICAL   CULTURE.  37 

tinctly  made  to  feel  that  he  is  out  of  harmony,  that  he  is  self- 
ishly indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  the  other  children,  that  he 
is  responsible  for  the  unhappiness  of  the  kindergartner,  if  he 
wanders  away  from  this  visible  pale  of  propriety  to  seek  the 
satisfaction  of  unplanned,  spontaneous  play,  and  the  expres- 
sion of  his  needs  and  feelings  in  his  own  childish  way.  He  is 
left  to  think  over  his  sinful  condition,  away  from  his  patient 
and  less  ambitious  companions;  the  kindergartner  withdraws 
the  light  of  her  countenance  from  his  soul,  and  in  the  chilly 
gloom  of  this  atmosphere,  the  little  culprit  wonders  why  he  is 
so  punished.  If  we  attempt  an  honest  answer  to  the  unspoken 
query  of  the  child,  we  shall  see  that  he  is  punished  for  the  ig- 
norance of  the  best-of-intentioned  adults  who  are  trying  to 
force  him  out  of  a  natural  expression  of  himself  through  the 
only  channel  which  Nature  has  provided,  into  one  which  is  ab- 
normal and  unsatisfactory — to  him  at  least. 

The  plays  and  activities  of  children  at  this  age  are  almost 
wholly  individualistic,  their  interests  are  individualistic,  and 
not  until  a  much  later  period  of  their  development  should  we 
consistently  look  for  that  unity  of  purpose  and  action  of  which 
the  circle  is  the  symbol.  Dr.  Gulick  has  shown  by  his  investi- 
gations that  traditional  and  organized  games  belong  to  a  later 
period  of  childhood.  "The  plays  of  early  childhood  are  indi- 
vidualistic, non-competitive,  and  for  the  accomplishment  and 
observation  of  objective  results."* 

If  this  is  true,  the  kindergarten  organized  games  performed 
upon  the  circle,  while  reflecting  the  most  amiable  intentions  of 
adults  toward  children,  in  preparing  aesthetic  renditions  of  tra- 
ditional games,  are  still  games  from  the  adult  standpoint,  rather 
than  the  expression  of  the  spontaneous  plays  of  children. 

The  crudity,  lack  of  unity  of  purpose,  and  exuberant  ex- 
pression of  the  play  spirit  when  left  free  activity,  interferes 
with  the  apparent  harmony  and  smoothly-running  schedule  of 
the  kindergarten,  and  is  therefore  unpopular  among  many  kin- 
dergartners.  In  too  many  of  our  model  kindergartens  the  de- 
mure little  lads  and  lasses  have  "learned  to  play"  the  games  so 
perfectly  that  the  favorite  time  for  visiting  the  kindergarten, 

*Some  Psychical  Aspects  of  Muscular  Exercise.     Dr.  L,uther  Gulick, 
Pop.  Sci.  Mo.,  Oct.  1898. 


38  PHYSICAL  CULTURE. 

with  many  unthinking  child-lovers,  is  during  the  period  devo- 
ted to  this  spectacular  performance.  For  how  long  shall  we 
kindergartners  caper  and  prance,  conscientiously  devoting  our 
best  energies  of  heart  and  brain  to  teach  these  open-eyed  and 
wondering  children  how  to  play?  Might  we  not  more  profit- 
ably learn  of  them? 

The  conviction,  for  years  latent  and  urgent  for  recognition, 
that  free  play  is  the  only  rational  solution  to  Froebel's  plea  for 
self-activity,  the  undoubted  truth  of  the  revelations  of  child 
study  with  regard  to  the  ancestral  and  racial  traits  of  child- 
hood, led  to  the  adoption  of  two  recess  periods  of  20  minutes 
each  for  spontaneous  play  in  the  kindergartens,  to  take  the 
place  of  the  regular  kindergarten  games,  and  the  eagerness 
with  which  the  play  incentives  were  appropriated  and  put  into 
active  service  by  the  children  revealed  the  strength  of  their  in- 
terests. At  first,  but  few  incentives  were  given,  owing  to  ig- 
norance of  the  best  incentives  for  their  use,  but  as  observation 
and  experience  strengthened  theory,  the  list  gradually  in- 
creased and  modified  the  original  provision  made.  To  a  few 
bean  bags,  tin  street  cars,  wooden  soldiers,  and  a  cloth  ele- 
phant, whose  only  recommendation  for  pouplarity  was  his 
obliging  disposition  in  sacrificing  his  dignity  by  becoming  a 
football,  and  who  was  rescued  from  the  sure  fate  which  over- 
takes all  who  tamper  with  the  game,  have  been  added  in  the 
order  named,  sand  piles,  dolls,  toy  dishes,  toy  brooms  and  dust 
pans,  toy  washboards,  reins,  gas  balls,  hammers  and  nails,  gar- 
den tools,  footballs,  facilities  for  climbing,  jumping,  see-saws, 
swings,  and  the  latest  achievement,  a  children's  play  house, 
where  the  tiny  housekeepers  can  keep  the  miniature  family  in 
the  most  approved  mannner,  and  still  have  the  benefit  of  the 
fresh  air  and  sunshine. 

The  bean  bags,  the  wooden  soldiers,  the  tin  street  cars,  and 
his  lordship,  the  elephant,  have  been  consigned  to  the  oblivion 
of  deserved  rest — but  the  sand  piles  have  still  the  busy  chat- 
tering groups  of  little  ones,  digging  wells  and  tunnels,  mold- 
ing and  baking  in  the  sun  the  succulent  pies  and  cakes  so  well- 
known  to  our  own  happy  childhood,  sifting  the  clean,  dry, 
fascinating  sand  until  the  sudden  temptation  to  send  a  mimic 
cyclonic  deluge  over  unsuspecting  comrades  is  only  diverted 


PHYSICAL   CULTURE, 


39 


into  more  legitimate  channels  by  the  prompt  action  of  the  ever- 
vigilant  and  ever-present  kindergartner. 

The  dolls,  the  toy  dishes,  brooms,  washboards  and  flatirons 
have  a  full  share  of  attention  from  girls  and  boys  alike.  The 
house  is  swept  and  garnished,  in  the  enthusiasm  of  play,  some 
children  considerately  sprinkling  sand  upon  the  floor,  that  the 
broom  may  have  excuse  for  action;  the  doll  clothes  are  washed 
vigorously  in  the  sand  with  washboard  and  wooden  soap,  and 
ironed  while  the  iron  is  cold;  the  dishes  are  washed  and  dried 
with  imaginary  water  and  towels;  the  dolls  are  washed  and 
dressed,  one-eyed  Rosie,  of  long-suffering  visage  and  patheti- 
cally dangling  appearance  being  cuddled  and  loved  and  lulla- 
bied  with  the  fairest  in  the  land;  while  the  hostess  sets  the 
table,  not  omitting  the  tiny  vase  of  weedy  blossoms  gathered 
for  the  purpose,  and  proceeds  to  serve  to  the  sedate  and  expect- 
ant guests  a  banquet  fit  for  the  gods.  Sand  is  the  basis  and 
inspiration  of  the  entire  menu,  and  the  dignity  and  propriety 
of  the  occasion  is  not  marred  by  any  unseemly  behavior,  or  the 
necessity  for  correction  to  the  verge  of  tears — there  is  no 
painted  line  here  to  say:  "Thou  shalt  not." 

This  seems  like  co-operative  housekeeping,  but  no  such  adult 
occupation  is  in  reality  the  case.  Each  child  is  entirely  ab- 
sorbed in  her  own  particular  bit  of  drama,  and  cares  not  a 
whit  about  the  success  of  the  whole. 

Meanwhile,  fiery  steeds,  restless  chargers,  and  good,  safe 
family  horses  are  being  driven  about  the  grounds,  with  long 
grass  tucked  under  the  hat  brims  for  manes,  with  tinkling 
bells,  and  drivers  with  healthily  exercised  lungs  to  keep  them 
in  subjection;  bread,  milk  and  vegetables  are  delivered  with- 
out money  and  without  price  to  all  who  may  ask.  Without 
rest,  or  the  usual  variation  of  eating  and  sleeping,  with  only 
an  occasional  visit  to  the  blacksmith  for  repairs,  these  horses 
and  their  remorseless  drivers,  like  Tennyson's  brook,  "go  on 
forever." 

The  gas  balls  occupy  the  attention  of  another  group  of  chil- 
dren, and,  tossing,  rolling,  bouncing,  gain  for  the  hands  and 
eyes  a  co-ordination  which  does  more  for  the  judicious  develop- 
ment of  accuracy  of  time  and  movement  than  could  be  ac- 
quired in  any  other  way. 


40  PHYSICAL   CULTURE. 

Hammers,  footballs,  climbing,  jumping,  swinging  and  see- 
sawing are  all  in  active  operation  at  this  time,  making  the 
twenty  minutes  all  too  short  in  which  to  enjoy  the  delights  of 
free  play. 

If  you  would  ask  for  the  whereabouts  of  the  kindergartner 
during  this  time,  if  you  imagine  that  she  is  quietly  resting  in 
a  hammock  in  some  secluded  spot,  I  would  answer  that  this 
is  her  harvest  time  for  child  study,  and  as  she  keeps  her  eyes 
and  ears  alert  for  her  needed  presence  here,  there,  and  every- 
where at  once,  and  her  loving  heart  ever  ready  to  meet  the 
numerous  calls  upon  her  patience,  her  strength  and  judgment,, 
she  now  and  then  snatches  a  moment  to  put  into  her  note 
book  the  record  of  the  day's  revelation  of  Johnny's  and 
jenny's  most  baffling  characteristics. 

The  bell  rings,  the  sand  piles  are  deserted,  the  beloved  dolls 
kissed  and  left  staring  after  the  tender  little  mothers,  the  toys 
are  replaced  in  their  boxes,  the  swings  once  more  resume  the 
perpendicular,  and  in  three  minutes,  where  all  was  life  and 
animation,  quiet  reigns  until  the  reappearance  of  the  merry 
little  ones.  ORPHA  M.  QUAYLE. 


PLAY: 
A  STUDY  OF  KINDERGARTEN  CHILDREN. 

[Reprinted  from  Northwestern  Monthly,  March- April,  1899.  | 

For  about  three  months  the  kindergartners  of  Santa  Bar- 
bara have  made  systematic  observations  of  the  children's 
spontaneous  play  during  the  two  twenty-minute  morning 
recess  periods.  Each  kindergartner  has  a  note  book  and  every 
day  records  her  observations,  putting  down,  more  or  less 
descriptively,  what  the  children  play. 

In  the  four  public  kindergartens  there  are  from  140  to  175 
children  from  four  to  six  years  of  age,  representing  all  condi- 
tions of  life  from  the  white-ruffled  little  Fauntleroy  to  the 
bare-footed,  freckled  youngster  in  blue  jeans.  As  for  cosmo- 
politanism, besides  the  California-born  Americans,  there  are 
a  few  children  of  eastern  tourists,  a  decided  sprinkling  of  Span- 
ish and  Mexican  urchins,  a  number  of  Italian-born,  and  a  Chi- 


PHYSICAL   CULTURE.  41 

nese  pigtail  or  two — a  composite  that  certainly  ought  to  yield 
something  generic. 

Over  one  hundred  specific  varieties  of  spontaneous  play  were 
observed,  and  these  fall  easily  under  the  following  heads:  i, 
Plays  of  Physical  Action;  2,  Representative  Plays;  and,  3,  Tra- 
ditional Games.  Any  set  classification  is  more  convenient  than 
strictly  just.  The  representative  plays,  while  distinguished 
by  the  imitative  and  dramatic  elements,  often  involve  an  im- 
mense amount  of  physical  action.  The  traditional  plays,  those 
handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  in  the  shape  of 
formulated  games,  such  as  "London  Bridge/'  are  based  both 
on  physical  activity  and  on  the  representative  idea.  The  fol- 
lowing table  shows  the  distribution  of  the  plays  observed  with- 
out any  cross  classification : 

Plays  of  Physical  Action  . .  . about  25  varieties. 

Representative  Plays "      67  varieties. 

Traditional  Games "      12  varieties. 

Plays  of  physical  action  and  representative  plays  character- 
ize almost  exclusively  the  free  activity  of  the  kindergarten. 
These  two  fields  give  not  only  the  greatest  diversity  of  physical 
and  psychical  action,  but  they  furnish  certain  types  of  play 
which  run  day  after  day,  week  after  week,  till  they  seem  to  be 
woven  into  the  very  life  of  the  child.  The  traditional  games, 
while  presenting  some,  though  a  comparatively  limited  variety, 
would,  if  further  compared  with  the  less  organized  activities  as 
to  the  number  of  times  played,  fall  into  utter  significance. 

PLAYS  OF  PHYSICAL  ACTION. 

The  list  of  physical  plays — those  in  which  the  play  instinct 
is  manifested  simply  in  the  outletting  of  physical  energy — as 
I  gather  them  from  the  note  books,  runs  heterogeneously  in 
this  fashion :  aimless  running,  wrestling,  racing,  sliding  down 
banisters,  jumping,  ball  (throwing  against  the  house,  throw- 
ing to  each  other,,  bouncing  and  catching,  tossing  in  the  air, 
rolling,  kicking,  batting),  swinging,  somersaults,  climbing, 
see-saw,  throwing  sand,  grass,  or  marbles,  trickling  sand 
through  the  fingers,  digging,  walking  beams,  pulling  children 
off  the  steps,  etc.  Ball  in  its  various  forms  is  decidedly  the 


42  PHYSICAL   CULTURE. 

most  popular  of  the  plays  of  physical  action,  followed  by  jump- 
ing, swinging,  sliding,  climbing. 

The  practical  question  is  not  so  much  what  the  children  do 
as  what  exercise  comes  out  of  what  they  do  in  their  physical 
plays.  Let  us  see  what  sort  of  physical  culture  teacher  the 
child  makes  for  himself  in  his  natural  play.  I  have  made  a 
very  rough  classification  of  the  plays  of  physical  action  accord- 
ing to  the  prominent  bodily  movements  they  involve,  leg 
movements,  arm  movements,  etc.,  as  shown  in  the  following 
table : 


Kunning. 

Aimless. 

In  many  plays. 

Races. 
Skipping. 
Kicking. 

Ball,  bean-bag,  toy  elephant,  etc. 
Jumping 

Up  and  down. 

Along  the  ground. 

Off  steps  and  benches  and  fences. 

Rope. 

Digging  with  the  feet. 
Walking  cross-beams. 

Throwing  ball,  sand,  etc. 
Tossing  ball. 
Bouncing  ball. 
Batting  ball. 

Somersaults.  > 

Wrestling. 

Tumbling. 

Rolling  hoop. 

Climbing. 

Falling  on  the  sand. 

Pulling  children  off  the  steps. 

Trickling  sand  through  the  fingers. 
Squeezing  air  out  of  ball. 
Catching  ball,  etc. 
Building  in  sand. 

Swinging. 

Sliding  down  banisters. 

See- saw. 


Leg  movements. 


Arm  movements. 


Complex     movements,     arm, 
trunk. 


Hand  and  finger  movements. 


Motion   through   air   without   ef- 
fort. 


PHYSICAL  CULTURE.  43 

The  legs  are  two  very  important  servants  to  his  young  lord- 
ship, and  he  sees  that  they  are  well  trained.  He  gives  them 
an  indefinite  amount  of  running.  At  first  this  is  aimless,  the 
child  "just  runs,"  or  he  runs  and  tumbles  in  the  sand.  He 
runs  in  almost  every  game  he  plays,  and  when  he  really  goes 
into  the  business  of  it  he  starts  up  a  racing  match.  Then  he 
kicks.  He  kicks  the  ball,  he  degrades  the  bean-bag  into  some- 
thing to  kick,  and  he  kicks  the  toy  elephant  till  life  is  quite 
extinct.  To  running  and  kicking  add  jumping — jumping  up 
and  down,  jumping  off  steps  and  fences,  jumping  along  the 
ground,  jumping  rope — and  I  doubt  if  you  will  find  many  idle 
muscles  in  any  legs  from  four  to  six  years  old. 

A  distinctly  arm  movement  is  accomplished  by  throwing — 
throwing  ball  ad  infinitum,  and  by  way  of  substitutes,  sand  or 
grass  or  what  not. 

Many  plays  give  more  complex  movements,  exercising  both 
arms  and  legs  and  the  trunk  also,  and  requiring  co-ordination 
of  the  whole  body.  These  are  somersaults,  tumbling,  wrest- 
ling, climbing,  tugging,  etc. 

Then  there  are  hand  and  finger  movements — trickling  sand 
through  the  fingers,  squeezing  the  ball,  catching  the  ball,  mak- 
ing sand  structures,  etc.  It  is  the  grip  movement  that  charac- 
terizes chiefly  the  exercise  of  the  hand  and  fingers. 

All  these  movement  plays  require  effort,  and  yet  not  effort 
to  any  intense  degree  or  any  finely  concentrated  degree.  In 
other  words,  these  games  give  free  exercise,  but  there  is  a 
decided  lack  of  games  of  competition  or  of  force,  and  also  of 
games  involving  fine  accuracy  or  skill.  Only  a  few  cases  of 
competition  were  observed.  There  were  occasional  races  and 
isolated  instances  of  seeing  who  could  throw  the  ball  the  far- 
thest or  catch  it  the  most  quickly  or  toss  the  bean-bag  the  high- 
est. Three  cases  of  force  are  recorded,  two  of  pulling — pulling 
children  off  the  steps,  and  pulling  the  reins  from  each  other 
to  test  the  strength — and  one  of  lifting,  the  smaller  children 
trying  to  lift  the  larger  ones. 

There  were  no  games  requiring  fine  accuracy  of  hand  or 
eye.  In  throwing  there  was  not  much  aiming  at  a  mark.  The 
nearest  approach  to  aiming  was  in  throwing  the  bean-bags 
into  the  hole  in  the  board  and  in  hitting  a  marble  off  the  top 


44  PHYSICAL   CULTURE. 

of  a  sand-mound  with  another  marble.  The  bean-board  met 
with  no  enthusiasm,  however. 

Beside  the  movement  games  requiring  effort  and  so  giving 
exercise  to  the  various  muscles,  is  another  set,  the  delight  of 
which  seems  to  consist  in  their  ability  to  give  movement  and 
motion  without  effort,  as  swinging,  sliding  down  banisters, 
see-saw,  etc.  Motion  through  the  air  seems  to  possess  a  pecu- 
liar charm,  to  give  a  general  sense  of  freedom,  excitement, 
exhilaration,  an  unconscious  "getting  on  the  good  side"  of  the 
Law  of  Gravity  (for  said  Law  of  Gravity  is  not  always  in  a 
friendly  mood).  The  element  of  rhythm  in  swinging  and  see- 
saw doubtless  contributes  much  to  the  charm. 

In  general,  the  games  of  physical  action  may  be  character- 
ized by  i,  their  lack  of  competition;  2,  their  moderation  both 
in  intensity  of  force  and  accuracy  of  skill;  3,  the  variety  of 
muscular  exercise  afforded;  and  most  important,  4,  the  funda- 
mental nature  of  the  muscles  involved. 

It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  in  this  running,  kicking,  jumping, 
throwing,  swinging,  sliding,  climbing,  wrestling,  turning  som- 
ersaults, etc.,  only  the  fundamental  movements  are  brought 
into  play.  Our  tree-dwelling  ancestors  might  have  performed 
and  did  perform  any  and  all  of  these  movements,  so  that  they 
are  handed  down  to  the  child's  nervous  system  with  such  a 
long  and  reputable  list  of  references  that  he  is  fain  to  make 
good  use  of  them,  before  ever  he  is  ready  to  attempt  the  newer- 
fangled,  accessory  movements  of  finger,  hand,  and  eye  that 
have  been  added  to  the  curriculum  of  life  by  his  nearer  ances- 
tor— man.  The  bearing  this  fact  has  on  kindergarten  work 
is  obvious.  If  we  take  the  cue  from  children's  natural  play 
we  must  bid  God-speed  to  the  already  departing  "fine"  work 
and  the  "accurate"  work  of  the  kindergarten. 

It  is  tolerably  evident,  too,  that  no  system  of  calesthenics 
can  take  the  place  of  or  even  compete  with  the  set  of  exercises 
in  which  Dame  Instinct  instructs  the  kindergarten  child.  Her 
"system"  is  quite  as  complete  as  most  systems  furnished  by  the 
logical  adult — and  not  half  so  stupid  either.  Dame  Instinct, 
too,  knows  all  about  "nascent  periods,"  and  just  when  certain 
aptitudes  arise  or  die  out.  She  does  not  begin  too  soon  and 
so  force  the  nerve  or  muscle;  she  does  not  carry  on  work  too 


PHYSICAL   CULTURE.  45 

long,  and  so  over-fatigue  them  or  nauseate  the  interest,  but 
she  "strikes  the  nail  on  the  head"  every  time.  The  problem  is 
to  give  her  plenty  of  time  to  work  in  and  when  she  calls  the 
children  out  for  at  least  two  recesses  in  a  morning  not  to  hold 
them  back. 

Instinct,  however,  is  not  the  only  factor  to  be  considered. 
Environment  is  equally  important.  For  instinct  often  remains 
dormant  unless  the  incentive  furnished  by  the  environment  and 
necessary  to  the  development  of  the  instinct  is  present. 
The  teacher  need  not  force  nature,  but  she  may  co-operate 
with  her  by  furnishing  incentive  to  varied  play.  Environment 
given,  instinct  becomes  a  selective  agent. 

The  teachers  in  the  Santa  Barbara  kindergartens  are  inter- 
ested in  the  problem  of  incentives.  The  sand-pile,  common  to 
all  kindergartens,  is  a  stimulus  to  an  infinite  variety  of  play. 
The  introduction  of  some  simple  reins  of  red  tape  with  bells 
has  spread  the  enthusiasm  for  horse  like  wild-fire.  Rubber 
balls  were  furnished  freely,  and  were  the  germs  of  a  chronic 
and  incurable  disease  of  ball-playing.  Dolls  were  made  acces- 
sible at  recess-time,  and  through  them  a  number  of  children 
found  their  element.  A  box  of  toys  has  lately  been  placed  in 
the  yard  of  one  of  the  kindergartens,  and  a  general  rush  is 
made  for  this  at  every  recess.  The  train,  the  toy  elephant,  the 
card-board  soldiers,  and  the  wash-board  are  most  eagerly 
sought  after.  The  simple  toys,  however,  the  balls  and  the 
reins,  seem  to  give  greater  and  more  universal  pleasure  and 
more  varied  incentive  than  the  more  elaborate  toys,  which 
seem  to  have  something  of  a  stultifying  effect  in  their  stereo- 
typed scope  and  limited  adaptibility. 

But  more  incentives  still  are  needed,  more  swings,  more 
ropes.  The  sliding  down  banisters  and  the  climbing  of  fences 
suggest  the  furnishing  of  more  comfortable  sliding  boards 
and  trees  or  poles  to  climb.  The  propensity  to  dig  with  the 
hands  and  feet  demands  a  supply  of  gardening  tools.  A  see- 
saw made  of  an  old  board  found  by  accident  pitifully  cries  out 
with  Oliver  Twist  for  "more."  The  experiment  of  providing 
a  goodly  number  of  incentives  would  result  in  a  valuable 
"natural  selection"  that  would  give  a  basis  for  future  guidance. 


46  PHYSICAL   CULTURE. 

REPRESENTATIVE  PLAYS. 

There  are  three  groups  of  representative  plays.  The  follow- 
ing is  a  grouped  list  of  those  played  by  the  children  here,  clas- 
sified as,  Being  an  Animal,  Making  Things,  and  Representa- 
tion of  Adult  Occupations. 

1.  Being  an  animal. — Based  on  the  imitative  instinct :  horse, 
fishes,  bear,  frogs,  cow,  wild  turkey,  fox,  rattlesnake. 

2.  Making    things. — Based  on  the  constructive    instinct: 
bridges    with    boards,    flag-poles,    windmills,     block-houses, 
houses  in  the  sand,  also  in  the  sand  fences,  boats,  reservoirs, 
gardens,  pies,  cakes,  bread,  tomales,  wells,  trenches,  tunnels, 
dolls,  beds,  car  tracks,  mountains,  fields  with  fences,  barns  for 
the  wagons,  car-yards,  fire-engine  houses. 

3.  Representation  of  adult  occupations. — Based  on  the  dra- 
matic instinct:  blacksmith,  train,  band,  horse-show,   merry- 
go-round,  farmer,  Santa  Claus,  baker  shop,  bakery    wagon, 
dairyman,  planting  garden,  orchard,  mother,  sisters,  doll  with 
variations  (holding,  rocking,  dressing,  kissing,  talking  to,  tak- 
ing to  ride,  taking  for  a  walk,  putting  to  bed,  dosing  with  med- 
icine, feeding  with  grass  or  lunch),  washing  dishes,  washing 
clothes,     ironing,     sweeping,     party     with     dishes,      burial, 
kindergarten,  school,  Christmas  tree,  loading  wagons,  hauling 
and  dumping,  driving  horse,  lassooing  horses,  peddler,  pantry 
with  sand  for  food,  hunting  wild  game,  punishment,  tomale 
man,  bus,  rainstorm  with  sand  for  rain. 

The  simplest  representative  plays  are  those  of  the  imitation 
of  some  animal.  As  a  horse  the  child  runs  and  prances  about, 
as  a  fish  he  swims  in  the  sand,  as  a  bear  he  runs  and  growls, 
as  a  wild  turkey  he  flaps  his  arms,  as  a  fox  he  hides  in  his  hole, 
as  a  rattlesnake  he  writhes  his  body.  These  plays  require 
little  expansion  of  the  imagination,  but  seem  to  be  more  or  less 
directly  imitative,  and  are  entered  into  largely  by  the  younger 
children.  The  animal  is  "played"  as  an  isolated  animal,  with 
one  or  two  prominent  features,  characteristic  action  first  and 
characteristic  sound  somewhat  secondary,  and  without  consid- 
eration of  its  relations  to  wild  or  domestic  life. 

A  second  class  of  representative  plays,  requiring  more  imag- 
ination, includes  those  which  are  based  on  the  constructive 


PHYSICAL   CULTURE.  47 

instinct.  Here  the  sand-pile  in  the  arena  supreme.  The  sand- 
pile  when  it  is  thickly  peopled  does  not  give  room  for  much 
bodily  action,  and  hand  and  imagination  make  the  most  of  the 
limited  individual  space.  The  children  build  houses  galore  in 
the  sand;  they  build  fences,  reservoirs,  gardens;  they  pile  up 
mountains;  they  dig  wells,  tunnels,  and  trenches;  they  erect 
flag-poles;  they  concoct  pies,  cakes,  tomales. 

Lastly  comes  the  more  complex  dramatic  plays,  which  are 
chiefly  representations  of  adult  occupations:  blacksmith, 
farmer,  Santa  Claus,  baker  wagon,  school,  consisting  chiefly 
of  whipping  the  children  or  having  recess,  housekeeping  with 
variations,  horse  with  many  variations,  and  so  on.  This  ten- 
dency to  imitate  adult  activities  is  brought  out  in  a  chart  based 
on  the  1 200  or  more  cases  in  E.  H.  Russell's  book  on  Imitation. 
The  per  cent  of  adult  imitation  in  these  cases  ranged  from 
nearly  80  to  95  per  cent.* 

About  thirty-five  different  dramatic  plays  were  observed. 
Of  these  certain  games  seem  to  be  "chronic."  The  children 
play  horse  in  some  form  every  day.  Certain  plays  have  "runs," 
that  is,  they  appear  for  a  number  of  successive  days,  as  baker 
wagon,  washwoman,  etc.  These  two  plays  appeared  regularly 
every  day  for  three  weeks  and  with  an  increasing  number  of 
adherents.  Dolls  are  played  persistently,  but  chiefly  by  a  cer- 
tain few  devotees. 

In  calling  these  plays  dramatic,  too  much  must  not  be  im- 
plied. I  call  them  dramatic  in  distinction  to  the  other  classes 
of  more  direct  imitation  of  animals  and  construction  of  things. 
With  children  of  this  age  these  are  only  dramatic  beginnings. 
There  is  some  appreciation  of  relationships,  an  advance 
over  the  mere  imitation  of  a  single  feature,  but  even 
these  plays  are  very  fragmentary.  Housekeeping,  for  example, 
is  not  complex — perhaps  it  consists  at  one  time  merely  of  sweep- 
ing, at  another  of  washing.  Baker  shop  means  one  child  with 
a  row  of  sand-cakes.  "Horse"  consists  of  some  red-tape  reins, 
a  horse  or  horses,  a  driver,  and  some  indefinite  running  about. 
These  dramatic  games  are  played  by  individuals  alone  or 
chiefly  in  twos  and  threes,  rarely  in  large  groups.  They  are 

^Caroline  Frear:  Imitation,  a  study  based  on  E.  H.  Russell's  Child 
Observations,  Fed.  Sem.,  April,  1897. 


48  PHYSICAL   CULTURE. 

entirely  organized.  What  co-operation  there  is,  is  merely 
elementary.  The  action  involved  seems  to  please  rather  more 
than  the  idea;  in  fact,  the  idea  seems  chiefly  for  the  purpose 
of  furnishing  a  motif  for  the  action,  so  that  these  plays  are 
largely  connected  with  the  plays  of  physical  action.  They  can 
not  be  differentiated  too  strictly.  They  are  a  transition  from 
the  purely  physical  play  and  they  are  the  germs  of  the  later 
fever  for  more  elaborate  representation.  Luther  Gulick  gives 
the  age  of  seven  to  twelve  as  the  time  of  such  more  elaborate 
dramatic  play.* 

The  representative  plays  of  this  age,  then,  may  be  character- 
ized by  their  fragmentary  nature,  that  is,  their  selection  of 
a  few  features;  their  simplicity,  as  shown  in  the  relations  of 
those  playing:  and  their  emphasis  of  the  element  of  action. 

Earl  Barnes,  in  his  study  of  children's  drawings,  notes  that 
little  children  represent  what  they  want  to  draw  by  a  distorted 
prominence  of  isolated  factors.**  Children  do  not  think  in 
wholes  nor  in  logical  sequences.  These  facts  give  no  justifi- 
cation for  the  complex  relationships  of  some  of  the  games  of 
the  kindergarten. 

A  very  crude  imagination  is  involved  in  these  representative 
plays,  yet  at  this  age  imagination  is  evidently  in  a  nascent 
state,  for  it  requires  so  little  incentive  to  set  it  effervescing. 
A  dust  pan,  a  board,  a  box  cover  are  transformed  by  the  mind's 
magic  into  wagons.  Pieces  of  wood,  even  bells,  are  used  for 
babies  and  are  taken  for  an  airing  in  the  above  dust  pan.  The 
soul  of  sand  is  subject  to  infinite  transmigrations,  animating 
in  turn  cakes,  pies,  sugar,  soap,  soiled  clothes,  tomales,  or  rain. 
Grass  sometimes  causes  the  imaginary  bread  trundled  in  the 
baker  wagon  to  materialize,  and  it  further  makes  an  excellent 
horse's  mane  when  tucked  under  the  cap — at  least  so  little 
Adan  thinks.  A  whip  is  easily  made  of  a  long  weed.  Bean- 
bags  are  used  one  day  as  loaves  of  bread,  the  next  day  as  pil- 
lows or  mattresses.  A  handkerchief  tied  over  the  head  estab- 
lishes beyond  doubt  a  wolf.  A  string  of  black  beads  is,  on 
good  infantile  authority,  a  bunch  of  grapes.  A  card-board 

*Iv.  Gulick:  Some  Psychical  Aspects  of  Muscular  Exercise,  Pop.  Sci. 
Mo.,  Oct.  1898. 

**Earl  Barnes:  A  Study  on  Children's  Drawings,  Ped.  Sem., 
Vol.  2,  P.  455. 


PHYSICAL   CULTURE.  49 

soldier  answers  for  a  wash-board  when  Johann  has  the  only 
little  wash-board  the  school  trustees  provide. 

It  may  be  noted  that  the  imitation  and  the  analogies  of 
children  of  this  age  are  of  the  simplest  kind.  Their  imitation 
is  imitation  of  what  they  have  seen.  Their  analogies  are  anal- 
ogies of  external  features  based  on  sense  impression.  There 
is  no  particular  evidence  of  any  appetite  for  symbolism.  The 
round,  black  beads  stand  for  grapes  because  they  are  round 
and  black,  analogous  in  form  and  color.  No  "spiritual  reality" 
is  symbolized.  Susan  E.  Blow  may  ask,  "For  what  is  a  sym- 
bol but  a  natural  object,  action,  or  event  which  is  analogically 
related  to  some  spiritual  fact  or  process?  And  what  is  the 
symbolism  of  the  kindergarten  but  an  endeavor  through  the 
use  of  typical  facts  and  poetic  analogies  to  stir  the  child  with 
faraway  presentiments  of  his  ideal  nature,  his  spiritual  rela- 
tionships, and  his  divine  destiny?"*  But  there  is  certainly 
nothing  in  the  analogizing  found  in  children's  natural  play  to 
sanction  the  kindergartner  in  any  strained  attempts  to  arouse 
spiritual  "adumbrations"  in  the  child  through  the  symbolic 
games  of  the  orthodox  kindergarten.  Rather  than  worry 
about  mysterious  "presentiments,"  may  it  not  be  safer  to  give 
the  child  what  his  healthy  imitative,  constructive,  and  dramatic 
instincts  clearly  and  simply  demand,  again  trusting  to  Dame 
Instinct  to  utilize  her  material  to  the  best  admantage?  The 
kindergarten  circle  may  stir  presentiments  of  universal  unity, 
but  in  equal  probability  the  child  takes  it  for  what  it  is  worth 
to  him — a  toe-line  whereon,  forsooth,  he  must  march. 
TRADITIONAL  GAMES. 

The  traditional  games  played  by  the  children  were :  Lon- 
don bridge,  pom-pom-pull-away,  ring  around  a  rosy,  drop  the 
handkerchief,  draw  a  bucket  of  water,  "booger"  man,  pussy 
wants  a  corner,  tag,  hide  and  seek,  blind  man's  buff,  goosey 
gander,  and  wood-tag. 

These  games,  when  perchance  they  did  occur,  were  intro- 
duced at  the  suggestion  of  one  or  two  older  children  and  met 
with  very  little  response  among  the  children  in  general. 

London  Bridge  was  the  most  popular,  but  this  was  recorded 
only  six  times.    As  remarked  at  the  beginning,  the  appearance 
*Susan  E.  Blow:    Symbolic  Education,  page  101. 


50  PHYSICAL   CULTURE. 

of  the  traditional  games  is  quite  insignificant  compared  with  the 
representative  and  physical  forms  of  play.  This  fact  apcords 
with  the  observations  of  Miss  Sisson*  and  of  Luther  Gulick.** 
Gulick  places  the  traditional  game  pre-eminently  in  the  period 
from  seven  to  twelve  years.  The  sacred  circle  of  kindergarten 
paraphernalia  certainly  does  not  seem  to  be  based  on  any  nat- 
ural penchant  of  children  of  the  kindergarten  age  for  the  tra- 
ditional circle  games,  for  these  seldom  appear  in  their  undi- 
rected or  undictated  play. 

INDIVIDUAL  VERSUS  SOCIAL  PLAY. 

The  .kindergarten  child  is  pre-eminently  an  individual  rather 
than  a  social  child.  For  a  period  covering  four  weeks  record 
was  kept  with  specific  reference  to  the  question  whether  chil- 
dren played  alone  or  in  groups.  About  51  per  cent  of  the 
plays  were  by  individuals,  about  26  per  cent  were  by  groups 
of  two  or  three,  and  about  23  per  cent  were  by  larger  groups. 

In  the  cases  observed  here,  there  are  only  a  few  competitive 
group  games,  which  have  already  been  mentioned,  such  as 
racing  or  throwing  the  ball  the  farthest.  The  number  of  co- 
operative group  games  is  equally  small.  A  simulation  of 
football  played  with  a  large  rubber  ball  had  something  of  a 
run;  once  seven  girls  built  a  large  house  together;  several 
times  single  boys  have  driven  three,  four,  eight,  or  nine  horses 
tandem;  a  certain  set  of  girls  played  tea-party  for  a  number 
of  weeks ;  once  a  youthful  dairyman  and  ten  cows  entered  into 
a  mild  sort  of  co-operation.  I  have  included  under  group 
plays  the  cases  where  many  children  play  the  same  thing  and 
yet  each  individual,  or  each  two  or  three,  is  practically  inde- 
pendent, as,  for  example,  when  a  great  many  drivers  with 
one  horse  apiece  are  running  around.  This  is  not  strictly  group 
play,  and,  if  considered  apart,  would  reduce  the  real  group 
play  to  about  5  per  cent.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  majority 
of  the  children  play  alone  or  in  small  groups.  The  larger  com- 
petitive and  co-operative  groups  appear  only  occasionally. 

Thus,  one  striking  characteristic  of  the  play  of  these  kinder- 

*Genevra  Sisson,  Children's  Play.     Barnes'  Studies  in  Education,  V. 
**L,.  Gulick,  op.  cit. 


PHYSICAL   CULTURE.  51 

garten  children  is  the  individualistic  nature  of  it.  It  is  unor- 
ganized, non-competitive,  non-cooperative.  The  competitive 
spirit  arises  in  the  period  from  seven  to  twelve  and  the  co- 
operative sprit  in  adolescence,  according  to  Gulick.  Again, 
a  hint  may  be  taken  from  children's  play,  that  the  organized 
games  of  the  kindergarten  circle  lay  hold  upon  but  a  very  fee- 
ble social  instinct — an  instinct  whose  hour  comes  later  than 
the  kindergarten  period.  The  kindergarten  child  is  an  indi- 
vidual in  his  work-play  as  he  is  in  his  free  play,  and  his  social 
side  must  be  developed  through  independent,  spontaneous  imi- 
tation, which  is  clearly  nascent  at  this  period,  rather  than 
through  forced  factorship  in  an  organized  social  whole. 

To  sum  up,  the  play  of  kindergarten  children,  this  study 
would  indicate,  is  characterized  by:  i,  activity — persistent, 
varied,  moderate  rather  than  intense,  involving  neither  force 
nor  skill,  fairly  complete  in  the  muscular  exercise  afforded, 
and  concerned  entirely  with  the  use  of  the  fundamental  rather 
than  with  the  accessory  movements;  2,  nascent  imagination, 
using  idea  chiefly  as  an  excuse  for  action  rather  than  action 
as  a  mere  means  of  carrying  out  idea,  and  dealing  with  physi- 
cal images  based  upon  sense  impressions  which  offer  no  basis 
for  spiritual  symbolism;  and,  3,  its  individualistic  nature  as 
contrasted  with  the  social  nature  of  later  organized,  competi- 
tive, and  co-operative  play. 

CAROLINE  FREAR  BURK. 

Since  the  above  was  written,  the  generosity  of  friends  of  the 
kindergarten  has  made  the  addition  of  a  number  of  longed- 
for  play-incentives  possible.  Ground  has  been  dug  in  all  the 
kindergarten  yards,  and  seeds  and  shrubs  have  beeen  planted, 
in  part  by  the  children.  There  are  small,  but  not  merely  "play," 
rakes,  shovels,  hoes,  watering-cans,  etc.,  which  the  chil- 
dren use  in  the  care  of  the  gardens.  They  are  delighted  at 
the  horticultural  prospect  before  them,  and  some  beg  to  come 

^According-  to  a  charting-  of  E.  H.  Russell's  cases  of  imitation  (Car- 
oline Frear,  op.  cit.)  the  tendency  to  play  alone  is  exceeded  by  the  ten- 
dency to- play  with  other  children  at  about  the  age  of  five  years— the 
middle  of  the  kindergarten  period. 

The  cases  of  playing-  in  large  groups  appear  as  belonging  especially 
to  the  adolescent  period. 


52  PHYSICAL   CULTURE. 

in  the  afternoon  in  order  to  have  more  time  to  spend  in  gar- 
dening. Some  of  the  plants  are  intended  to  be  ornamental 
and  beautify  the  surroundings,  while  others  are  more  espe- 
cially for  the  children's  observation.  For  instance,  in  one 
kindergarten,  the  children  have  planted  popcorn  kernels,  whose 
growth  they  will  watch  in  all  its  stages  until  next  fall,  when 
they  will  "pop"  the  products  of  their  labor  in  their  own  kinder- 
garten stove. 

But  to  speak  of  the  more  truly  play-incentives.  Several 
of  the  kindergartens  have  a  number  of  new  swings,  which  are 
kept  in  constant  motion  during  the  recess  hours;  several  also 
have  see-saws.  One  of  these  see-saws  is  movable — the  board 
is  movable  up  and  down  to  suit  its  height  to  children  of  vari- 
ous sizes,  and  the  whole  see-saw  is  transportable  bodily,  so 
that  it  may  be  carried  into  the  kindergarten  room  or  out  doors. 
One  kindergarten  boasts  a  sliding-board  and  a  climbing-pole; 
another  a  turn-pole  and  a  good-sized  play  wagon,  in  which, 
on  excursions  to  the  beach,  little  lame  Maggie  rides  as  serenely 
as  did  Cinderella  in  her  pumpkin  coach. 

Two  features  in  the  Third  Ward  kindergarten  are  of  espe- 
cial interest.  One  is  the  pavilion.  This  is  a  large  platform, 
forty  by  eighteen  feet,  shaded  by  a  high  roof.  The  sides 
are  all  open.  In  the  center  is  a  large  sand  box,  twenty-one  by  six 
feet  and  two  feet  deep,  partitioned  in  the  middle.  From 
the  lengthwise  edges  project  slabs  for  modeling-tables,  which 
close  down  on  hinges  when  not  in  use.  The  children  dig  and 
build  and  play  in  the  sand  boxes,  and  the  sand  is  kept  together 
and  kept  cleaner  than  it  was  in  the  sand-pile  on  the  ground. 

The  other  feature  is  the  dolls'  house.  An  old  shed  gave 
up  without  a  murmur  its  whole  front,  so  that,  with  its  floor, 
three  sides  and  roof,  it  furnishes  a  place  where  the  children 
may  "play  house"  and  yet  have  all  the  benefits  of  fresh  air  and 
at  the  same  time  shelter  from  the  wind  in  this  less  active  play. 
Here  the  children  have  the  two  little  rocking-chairs,  the  tea- 
table,  the  dishes,  the  washboard,  the  flatiron,  the  little  brooms 
and  the  dolls,  with  the  box  used  as  their  wardrobe.  This  shed 
presents  an  exceedingly  busy  scene  at  recess  time.  An  endless 
amount  of  imaginary  tea  is  imbibed;  the  floor  is  swept,  till, 
whatever  it  is,  it  ought  to  be  spotless ;  dolls  are  rocked  till  their 


PHYSICAL   CULTURE.  53 

little  brains  either  must  be  perpetualy  asleep,  or  eternally 
dizzy.  Never  for  a  day  does  interest  flag  in  these  miniature 
housekeeping  arrangements. 

The  pavilion  and  the  dolls'  house  mean  extra  work  and  care 
for  some  one,  and  the  kindergarten  supervisor  is  utilizing  this 
opportunity  to  develop  in  the  children  a  sense  of  responsibility 
and  care-taking.  Every  day,  after  the  second  recess,  the  A 
class  children  remain  out  doors  for  fifteen  minutes.  The  boys 
sweep  the  floor  of  the  pavilion  that  has  been  scattered  with 
sand;  they  clean  the  gardening  implements  in  the  dry  sand 
till  they  shine  like  the  watering-pots ;  they  gather  up  the  papers, 
if  any,  drifting  about  the  yard,  and  these  are  burned  in  a  little 
bonfire.  Meanwhile  the  girls  are  washing  and  drying  the 
dishes  and  carefully  putting  them  away  in  the  canton-flannel- 
lined  box;  they  see  that  the  dolls  are  left  clothed  and  in  their 
right  minds;  they  shake  the  remaining  garments,  fold  them 
and  lay  them  in  the  box.  Thus  everything  is  left  neat  and 
orderly  for  the  next  day's  play.  The  children  enter  with  a 
will  into  this  care-taking  process,  and  moral  and  muscular 
exercise  go  merrily  along  hand  in  hand. 

C.  F.  B. 


Development  of  Language* 

The  kindergarten  covers  the  critical  period  of  the  ripening 
of  the  speech  centers  when  the  child  most  readily  and  rapidly 
acquires  vocabulary.  Of  this  we  are  certain  beyond  question. 
The  child  from  two  to  six  years  learns  a  new  language  with 
a  rapidity  which  utterly  puts  to  shame  the  ability  of  an  adult. 
The  general  educational  principle  requiring  us  to  use  an  instinct 
in  its  period  of  nascency  bids  us,  therefore,  to  put  into  the  kin- 
dergarten the  best  incentives  possible  to  excite  into  activity 
those  nerve  centers  concerned  in  the  function  of  oral  expres- 
sion. We  do  not  as  yet  have  a  complete  list  of  these  incen- 
tives, but  a  few  are  submitted  which  practical  experience  as- 
sures us  are  serviceable : 

i.  STORY  TELLING.  But  what  stories?  Some  may  be  bet- 
ter adapted  than  others  to  excite  the  language  centers.  Child - 
psychology  and  practical  experience  are  certainly  ready  to  give 
an  unequivocal  answer  to  this  question.  "Mother  Goose,"  folk- 
lore, myths,  fables  and  fairy  stories — the  stories  upon 
which  the  race  in  its  childhood  has  mentally  fattened,  and 
which  for  racial  ages,  by  the  campfire,  in  the  cave,  in  the 
wigwam,  and  at  the  mother's  knee,  whether  in  palace  or  cot- 
tage, the  human  child  has  ever  loved  to  hear  and  repeat.  From 
the  standpoint  of  practical  experience,  the  conclusion  is  firm 
that  for  the  purpose  of  exercising  the  child  in  language  there 
is  nothing  in  power  equal  to  these  stories  of  free  imagination — 
these  glimpses  of  a  world  as  yet  unbridled  by  cause  and  effect, 
when  man,  brute,  plant,  and  natural  force  gather  on  the  green- 
sward of  caprice  to  sport  and  play  with  one  another  without 
dream  of  quarreling.  From  the  standpoint  of  educational  the- 
ory, the  explanation  comes  with  equal  force  that  in  re- 
peating these  stories,  the  child's  interest  follows  the  path  of 


LANGUAGE.  55 

the  race,  that  the  brain  centers  which  represent  the  older  racial 
structures  mature  earlier  than  those  which  modern  civilization 
has  added,  that  the  former  constitute  the  trunk  from  which 
more  modern  tendencies  bud  and  branch  in  the  later  adolescent 
period,  and  that  these  stories,  moreover,  are  the  product  of 
a  natural  selection  where  the  forces  of  human  interest  have  been 
at  work  for  centuries,  pruning  here  and  growing  there,  till  what 
we  have  in  these  stories  is  the  concentrated  essence  of  what  has 
by  experience  proven  best  to  excite  the  language  expression  in 
childhood. 

"But  these  stories  are  not  spiritual;  they  are  upon  the  physi- 
cal plane — the  grossly  physical,"  the  orthodox  kindergarten 
exclaims  in  horror.  But  the  orthodox  kindergarten  is  merely 
echoing  that  old  cry  of  mediaeval  flaggellation  when  men  morti- 
fied the  flesh  as  evil  in  order  to  develop  the  spirit,  and  insisted 
upon  the  existence  of  an  impassable  chasm  between  the  two. 
Froebel  lived  in  the  sunlight  of  this  mediaevalisni,  and  letter 
study  of  him  has  reflected  into  the  modern  kindergarten  some 
of  these  dying  rays.  The  orthodox  kindergarten  has  attempted 
to  shelve  Grimm,  Anderson,  Homer  and  Aesop,  as  tempters 
of  the  flesh,  and  has  sought  to  substitute  a  repertoire  of  "spirit- 
ual" gems,  each  with  its  little  grafted  moral  and  aesthetic  senti- 
ment. The  ethical  and  aesthetic  sentiments  contained  in  these 
"gems"  generally  belong  more  properly  to  the  adolescent 
period,  not  to  childhood.  There  is  a  time  for  modern  ethics, 
and  there  is  a  time  for  primative  ethics,  and  to  force  the  former 
upon  children  from  four  to  six  is  an  educational  abortion,  so  far 
as  moral  education  is  concerned.  At  the  same  time  a  story 
without  interest  nullifies  itself  as  a  language  incentive.  For 
the  purpose  of  language  excitation — we  will  pass  morals  and 
aesthetics  for  the  present — these  artificial  products  cannot  take 
the  place  of  the  old  masters  in  the  story-telling  art,  whom  na- 
ture by  centuries  of  work  of  selection  has  educated.  There  has, 
indeed,  been  a  very  hazy  realization,  in  the  kindergarten,  of 
the  place  of  the  story  as  a  means  of  language  development. 
It  has  been  regarded  chiefly  from  the  standpoint  of  morals  and 
aesthetic  sentiment,  and  from  a  standpoint  in  these  which  mod- 
ern investigation  condemns  as  untenable. 


56  LANGUAGE. 

Secondly,  the  method  of  story-telling  in  the  kindergarten 
needs  overhauling  to  secure  the  freest  environment  for  its 
expression.  The  circle  as  the  place  of  telling  the  story  intro- 
duces the  needless  factors  of  bashfulness  and  nervousness.  The 
small  group  at  the  kindergartner's  knee  is  a  more  suitable  ar- 
rangement of  story-teller  and  audience. 

II.  DRAMATIC  REPRESENTATION  OF  STORIES.  A  second 
instinct  which  may  be  used  as  an  incentive  for  language  ex- 
pression, and  which  shows  itself  in  a  very  active  form  during 
the  kindergarten  years,  is  that  of  dramatic  representation  of 
stories.  An  essential  condition  for  story-telling  is  that  the 
child  shall  have,  in  the  form  of  clear  images  in  his  mind,  some- 
thing to  tell.  The  language  structures  of  the  brain,  neurology 
and  psychiatry  are  demonstrating  to  us,  are  superposed  upon 
the  more  fundamental  motor  structures.  To  do  a  thing  estab- 
lishes motor  structures  from  which  the  language  centers  are 
largely  built.  Action  is  an  older  form  of  language  than  speech, 
and  pantomime  was  nature's  first  differentiation  in  the  form  of 
language.  The  infant  comprehends  and  uses  action  and  pan- 
tomime before  he  comprehends  and  uses  speech.  The  repre- 
sentative games  begin,  it  has  been  shown,  from  three  to  six 
years.  The  child  in  crude  imitation  is  ever  representing  dra- 
matically all  that  he  sees  or  hears — playing  horse,  circus, 
school,  policeman,  etc.  As  a  rule,  indeed,  children  of  kinder- 
garten age  use  few  of  the  traditional  games,  upon  the  principle 
of  which  so  many  of  the  orthodox  kindergarten  games  are 
modeled.  This  class  of  play  comes  at  a  later  period.  The  lan- 
guage curriculum,  upon  this  suggestion  of  instinct,  may  profit- 
ably allow  stories  to  be  acted  out  before  the  child  tells  the  story 
orally.  But,  we  are  told,  this  is  just  what  the  kindergarten  has 
always  done — symbolism  is  its  corner-stone.  We  must  insist 
in  reply  that  there  is  an  essential  distinction  between  the  simple 
imitation  of  some  act  which  the  child  has  witnesed  actually, 
and  the  abstract  symbolism  which  the  Hegelianized  kinder- 
gartens have  attempted  to  force  into  the  curriculum.  It  is  one 
thing  for  a  child  to  imitate  washing  dishes — an  act  which  has 
already  been  impressed  into  her  nervous  system  by  the  senses — 
by  scrubbing  with  imaginary  water,  wiping  with  an  imaginary 
cloth,  hanging  them  upon  imaginary  pegs  in  an  imaginary 


LANGUAGE. 


57 


closet,  but  it  is  an  altogether  different  thing  to  leap  from  a 
circular  chalk  line  to  the  "premonition"  of  spiritual  nature. 
Symbolism  calls  for  a  class  of  nerve  structures  whose  ripening 
time  is  in  adolescence.  Imitation  of  objects  sensed  is  an  activ- 
ity of  early  childhood.  Secondly,  the  child,  to  be  ex- 
cited to  dramatize,  must  have  as  material  a  story  which  appeals 
to  him.  The  folk-lore  story  is  a  necessary  condition.  A  third 
condition  is  that  the  dramatization  must  be  free  and  spontane- 
ous. Froebel  insisted  upon  this,  but  many  of  his  modern  dis- 
ciples teach  dramatization  with  the  same  cut-and-dried  pre- 
cision to  rule  that  Hamlet  used  in  his  instructions  to  the  play- 
ers. The  "dictation"  method  has  arisen  as  a  necessity  of  the 
atempt  to  have  acted  that  which  is  beyond  the  child's  powers 
of  comprehension.  The  fact  that  many  kindergartens  feel 
themselves  obliged  to  show  the  children  how  to  play  arises  in 
many  cases  from  the  fact  that  the  story  employed  is  symbolic, 
and  so  far  beyond  the  sense-limits,  that  they  have  no  images 
to  represent.  I  venture  the  assertion  that  stories  of  the  plane 
of  "Mother  Goose,"  or,  a  little  later,  of  the  "Three  Bears,"  will 
offer  no  such  difficulty. 

III.  ILLUSTRATIVE  DRAWINGS.  A  third  instinct,  useful  as 
an  incentive  to  language  development,  is  one  which,  so  far  as 
I  am  aware,  has  never  been  utilized  in  the  kindergarten  in  a 
measure  adequate  to  its  importance,  except  in  a  few  sporadic 
instances.  It  is  the  child's  instinct  for  "picture  writing"  as 
a  means  of  language  expression.  Education  has  been,  and 
is,  burdened  by  a  hapless  confusion  between  drawing  as  an 
art,  and  drawing  in  a  more  primitive  stage  of  its  evolution, 
found  alike  in  the  child  and  in  primitive  man — drawing  merely 
as  a  way  of  telling  something.  It  is  a  form  of  language  which 
precedes  writing  in  the  child  as  well  as  in  the  race.  Our  pri- 
primary  schools,  and  to  some  extent,  our  kindergartens,  have 
been  surfeited  by  drawing  conceived  as  an  art,  or  as  a  mathe- 
matical drill  which  we  find  in  the  use  of  types.  But  the  studies 
of  children's  drawings  certainly  show  beyond  question  that 
the  drawing  of  children  of  the  kindergarten  age  does  not 
belong  to  art  at  all,  but  to  language.  The  kindergarten  child 
is  wofully  in  lack  of  any  evidences  of  aesthetic  instinct,  if  we 
define  "aesthetic"  in  the  sense  of  the  adult  use.  Intensely  inter- 


58  LANGUAGE. 

esting,  suggestive  and  helpful  has  been  the  experiment  of 
allowing  the  child  to  go  to  the  blackboard  to  ilustrate  by  means 
of  his  crude  "picture  writing"  some  story  of  which  he  is  fond. 
Once  the  child  has  drawn  the  story,  and  thereby  built  it  into 
the  motor  nerve  areas  governing  the  hand,  he  tells  it  by  means 
of  the  speech  centers  with  a  very  visible  addition  of  power 
and  clearness.  The  motor  mechanisms  have  laid  a  foundation 
uopn  which  the  speech  centers  build.  The  psychological  order 
of  the  instruction  in  language,  by  means  of  the  story,  clearly 
is:  first,  dramatic  representation;  secondly,  drawing;  thirdly, 
speech.  Success,  again,  is  conditioned  by  the  character  of  the 
story.  The  story  first  must  be  within  the  child's  mental  hori- 
zon in  order  to  excite  him  with  a  desire  to  express  it  in 
drawing. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  DRAWING. 

1 .  J.  Mark  Baldwin :  Mental  Development  in  the  Child  and 
the  Race.    New  York,  1896. 

2.  Earl  Barnes :   A  Study  on  Children's  Drawings.     Peda- 
gogical Seminary,  December,  1893. 

3.  Earl  Barnes :  Notes  on  Drawing.    Studies  in  Education. 

4.  Frank  S.  Bogardus:   An  Individual  Study  of  Drawings 
Made  by  First-Grade  Pupils.    Transactions  of  Illinois  Society 
for  Child  Study,  1896. 

5.  H.  P.  Bowditch :  Notes  on  Children's  Drawings.    Peda- 
gogical Seminary,  1891. 

6.  Elmer  E.  Brown :  Notes  on  Children's  Drawings.   Berke- 
ley, 1896. 

7.  Arthur  B.  Clark :  The  Child's  Attitude  Toward  Perspec- 
tive Problem.     Studies  in  Education. 

8.  E.  Cooke :  Art  Teaching  and  Child  Nature.    Journal  of 
Education,  London,  December,  1885,  and  January,  1886. 

9.  G.  Stanley  Hall :  Contents  of  Children's  Minds  on  Enter- 
ing School.     Pedagogical  Seminary,  June,  1891. 

10.  Mary  A.  Herrick:    Children's  Drawings.     Pedagogical 
Seminary,  October,  1895. 

1 1 .  Mary  Dana  Hicks :   Art  in  Early  Education.     Kinder- 


LANGUAGE. 


59 


garten  Magazine,  April,  1894. 

12.  Herman  T.  Lukens:   A  Study  of  Children's  Drawings 
in  the  Early  Years.    Pedagogical  Seminary,  October,  1896. 

13.  Louise  Maitland:    Children's  Drawings.     Pacific  Edu- 
cational Journal,  September,  1895. 

14.  M.  V.  O'Shea:   Children's  Expression  Through  Draw- 
ing.   Proceedings  and  Addresses  of  National  Education  Asso- 
ciation for  1894. 

15.  E.  W.  Scripture  and  C.  S.  Lyman:  Drawing  a  Straight 
Line.     Studies  from  the  Yale  Psychological  Laboratory  for 

1893. 

1 6.  Milicent  W.  Shinn:    Notes  on  the  Development   of   a 
Child.     Berkeley,  1893. 

17.  James  Sully:   Studies  in  Childhood.    New  York,  1896. 

1 8.  Corrado  Ricci.    Art  of  Little  Children.    Translated  by 
Louise  Maitland.     Pedagogical  Seminary,  vol.  Ill,  p.  202. 

19.  Louise  Maitland.     What  Children  Draw  to   Please 
Themselves.    Inland  Educator,  1896. 

20.  Jacques  Passy.    Note  Sur  les  Dessins  d'Enfants.  Revue 
Philosophique,  December,  1891. 

FREDERIC  BURK. 

I. 

In  taking  up  the  story-work  in  our  kindergarten  this  year, 
we  decided  to  try  with  the  entering  class  of  children  from  four 
to  five  years  old,  the  favorite  rhymes  of  "Mother  Goose."  We 
took  up  at  first  the  briefest  ones,  such  as : 

"  Rub-a-dub,  dub, 

Three  men  in  a  tub." 
Or: 

"  Jack,  be  nimble : 
Jack,  be  quick; 
Jack,  jump  over  the  candle-stick." 

Oftentimes  we  acted  them  out  before  asking  the  children  to 
illustrate.  For  instance,  the  morning  I  told  them  the  rhyme 
of  "Jack,  be  nimble,"  I  had  a  candle-stick  and  candle,  which 
we  put  on  the  floor;  then  we  suited  the  action  to  the  words, 


60  LANGUAGE. 

each  child  who  wished  going  through  the  jumping.  *' See- 
saw, Margery  Daw,"  was  given  the  first  time  with  little  suc- 
cess for  lack  of  illustration,  but  again  I  tried  it,  erecting  a 
miniature  see-saw  in  the  sand-box,  with  small  dolls  on  either 
end,  and,  when  given  the  charcoal  and  paper,  the  results  were 
astonishing;  each  child  had  now  a  visual  picture  to  draw  from. 
The  first  verse  of  "Jack  and  Jill"  was  successfully  illustrated 
in  the  sand-box,  with  a  hill  of  sand,  dolls,  little  tin  bucket,  a 
well  at  the  top  of  the  hill,  with  well-frame  of  sticks  and  string 
to  pull  up  the  bucket. 

"  Ding-dong  bell, 

Pussy's  in  the  well," 

was  enjoyed  with  the  above  well,  and  a  picture  cat  to  let  down 
and  pull  out. 

I  cannot  say  that  all  the  results  are  encouraging — far  from 
it  sometimes.  Nevertheless  on  the  child's  part  the  illustration 
is  always  an  expression  of  an  idea.  From  the  second  illustration 
of  the  see-saw  rhyme,  out  of  twenty-three  papers  there  were 
only  eight  which  would  not  be  recognized ;  two  of  that  number 
were  from  foreigners  who  did  not  understand  English. 

We  have  our  story  the  first  hour  in  the  morning,  illustrating 
immediately,  either  with  pencil,  chalk,  brush  and  paints,  or 
charcoal.  Of  course,  the  children  are  not  confined  merely  to 
this  illustrative  work,  for  they  have  every  day  numerous  oppor- 
tunities of  drawing  anything  they  wish.  But  at  the  hour  set 
aside  for  the  illustration  of  the  story,  they  are  all  expected  to 
try  to  draw  some  pictures  about  it.  Many  children  need  a 
great  deal  of  appreciation  and  encouragement  on  the  part  of 
the  teacher,  often  hanging  back  and  saying,  "I  can't  draw." 
Of  ten-times  when  they  say,  for  instance,  in  the  illustration  of 
"Hey-diddle,  diddle,"  "That's  the  cow  that  jumped  over  the 
moon,"  it  seems  far  more  possible  that  it  is  a  snake  or  a  cat. 

From  the  simpler  rhymes  we  proceeded  to  the  longer  ones, 
as  "Little  Jack  Horner,"  "Ding-dong  Bell,"  "Jack  and  Jill," 
"Little  Miss  Muffett,"  "Mary  Had  a  Little  Lamb,"  "Little 
Boy  Blue,"  and  various  clear  verses  of  Mother  Hubbard's 
dog.  To  one  who  does  not  fully  realize  the  stage  in  ability  of 
children  at  this  age  to  draw  and  express  a  certain  idea,  the 
drawings  would  seem  very  crude  and  the  educational  value 


LANGUAGE.  61 

but  small.  But  to  the  person  who  does  understand,  and  who 
watches  the  power  to  express  with  the  hand  what  has  been 
absorbed  through  the  eyes  and  ears,  the  development  seems 
wonderful  and  intensely  interesting  in  all  its  details.  The 
greatest  value  of  this  work  seems  to  me  to  be  the  self-expres- 
sion on  the  part  of  each  child.  He  is  not  doing  it  in  the  teach- 
er's way,  but  it  is  his  own  creative  work.  The  value  of  using 
these  simple  rhymes  is  that  the  youngest  children  become  alive 
with  interest,  and  anxious  to  tell  them  back  to  me  with  the 
pictures — but  not  in  language.  They  do  not  seem  to  have  the 
power  or  vocabulary  to  tell  the  story  that  has  been  told  them, 
but  by  means  of  their  own  pictures,  the  impression  is  made 
which  in  the  second  year  will  reappear  in  language  expression, 
I  found  that  the  children  on  entering  had  not  an  interest  in 
long,  verbose  chronicles  of  children's  doings — as  I  tested  by 
sprinkling  in  an  occasional  one.  Of  course  they  often  will  sit 
and  listen  with  apparent  interest,  but  how  much  better  does  it 
seem  to  give  them  something  tangible  for  re-telling  by  means 
of  pictures  or  words. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  what  especial  object  they  will  choose 
to  draw,  as  in : 

"  Hey,  diddle,  diddle, 
The  cat  and  the  fiddle, 
The  cow  jumped  over  the  moon." 

Some  choose  "the  cat  and  the  fiddle" ;  some,  "the  little  dog 
laughing,"  or,  "the  dish  running  away  with  the  spoon,"  and 
others  just  the  cow  or  moon  alone.  They  were  always  allowed 
all  liberty  in  choosing  the  part  they  wished  to  illustrate.  From 
the  "Mother  Goose"  rhymes  I  took  up  the  simplest  of  the 
Esop  fables,  and  those  which  seemed  particularly  attractive 
through  the  personification  of  the  animals  and  their  conver- 
sation. The  appreciation  of  this  type  of  story  was  clearly 
shown,  also,  in  the  "Story  of  the  Three  Bears,"  which  I  had 
told  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  term.  At  that  time  they 
seemed  not  to  grasp  its  full  meaning,  but  when  tried  again 
after  the  "Mother  Goose"  rhymes,  it  met  with  great  enthusi- 
asm. The  illustrations  revealed  a  vivid  picture  of  the  mush- 


62  LANGUAGE, 

bowls,  chairs  and  beds. 

The  fables  which  the  children  seemed  to  enjoy  the  most 
were  the  "Ant  and  the  Dove,"  "The  Goat  and  the  Mirror/' 
and'The  Fox.  in  the  Well/' 

GAIL  HARRISON.. 


II. 

After  the  first  fifteen  minutes,  which  the  children  spend  all 
together  in  the  main  room,  I  take  my  class  into  my  room,  and 
we  have  the  story  and  its  illustration.  The  class  has  been  gen- 
erally about  twenty  in  number,  and  represents  the  second  year 
in  the  kindergarten,  the  children  being  from  five  to  six  years 
old.  To  me  this  hour  is  the  most  enjoyable  one  of  the  morning, 
for,  by  means  of  the  story,  I  think  the  teacher  and  chil- 
dren are  draw;n  closer  together.  Before  telling  my  story,  I 
always  try  to  draw  the  children  out  by  asking  for  a  story  from 
them,  and  there  is  never  a  morning  that  some  one  has  not 
Something  to  tell.  It  may  be  about  something  they  have  seen 
or  done  the  day  before,  or  often  it  is  the  story  that  a  brother, 
sister,  or  mother  has  told  them.  The  children  seem  to  feel  a 
freedom  at  this  time,  and  the  diffident  children  can  be  drawn 
out,  for  I  have  discovered  that  when  a  child  is  really  inter- 
ested, and  has  something  to  tell,  he  becomes  unconscious  of 
self.  One  little  girl  that  has  been  in  my  class  for  nearly  a  year, 
quite  a  diffident  child  in  talking,  has  volunteered  to  tell  three 
stories  lately  that  she  has  heard  at  home,  and  she  told  them 
with  so  much  enthusiasm  that  the  children  listened  intently. 
I  think  we  do  not  realize  how  much  confidence  it  takes  for  a  lit- 
tle child  that  is  inclined  to  be  diffident  to  tell  a  story  to  others. 
Several  times,  when  a  child  has  been  absent  the  day  before, 
I  have  asked  some  one  to  tell  him  the  story  of  the  previous  day. 
Sometimes  I  ask  one  to  begin  the  story,  and  let  some  one  else 
finish  it.  During  this  story  time  there  is  an  excellent  oppor- 
tunity of  teaching  a  little  lesson  in  self-control,  for,  as  we  all 
know,  it  is  natural  for  the  children  all  to  want  to  talk  at  the 
same  time,  and  I  am  particular  to  let  only  one  speak  at  a  time. 


LANGUAGE.  63 

After  giving  the  children  an  opportunity  of  talking,  I  tell  my 
story,  and  the  eagerness  with  which  they  listen  and  enter  into 
it  is  certainly  satisfying.  To  see  the  changes  of  expression 
in  the  faces  as  the  story  progresses  is  inspiring,  and  one  cannot 
help  but  enter  into  it  oneself. 

I  am  convinced  that  the  story  must  not  be  too  long  or  too 
complex,  for  little  children  cannot  take  in  too  much  detail.  In 
selecting  a  story,  I  try  to  find  a  simple  one,  and  yet  one  that 
has  life  in  it. 

I  tried  the  "Mother  Goose"  rhymes  with  my  children,  but 
did  not  consider  them  a  success,  for  many  of  the  children  knew 
them  already,  and  they  seemed  to  desire  something  with  more 
story  to  it.  One  morning,  after  repeating  one  of  the  rhymes, 
Winfield  said:  "But,  Miss  Diehl,  aren't  you  going  to  tell  us 
a  story?"  To  him  this  did  not  take  the  place  of  the  story. 

The  illustrating  of  the  story,  which  always  follows,  is  espe- 
cially interesting.  In  the  illustrating,  of  course,  we  do  not 
look  for  artistic  effect,  for  the  child  simply  tells  the  story  in  a 
crude  way  with  the  chalk,  pencil,  charcoal,  or  brush.  As  a 
rule,  I  have  my  children  draw  on  the  board,  for  there  they 
have  greater  freedom  of  movement,  and  they  draw  on  a  larger 
scale.  I  have  them  draw  with  the  broad  side  of  the  chalk, 
and  find  it  very  successful,  for  effective  lines  can  be  made 
without  pressing  so  hard.  Sometimes  I  use  the  brush  and 
water  colors,  but  I  observe  that  they  do  not  go  into  detail  so 
much ;  however,  I  think  the  brush  is  very  good  for  developing 
a  soft  touch.  Charcoal  I  like  very  much,  for  it  is  soft,  and 
easy  to  mark  with,  and  the  children  do  not  clutch  it  so  tightly 
as  they  do  the  lead  pencil.  They  are  always  fond  of  the  pen- 
cil, and  some  ask  for  it,  but  I  think  unless  they  can  have  a 
good,  soft  one,  they  would  better  use  something  else.  I  never 
give  instructions  in  the  drawing,  for  I  want  to  see  how  much 
of  the  story  the  child  has  grasped.  Sometimes  I  suggest,  and 
occasionally  in  telling  the  story  I  will  step  to  the  board  and 
illustrate  parts  as  I  tell  it.  The  children  always  enjoy  this, 
and  always  say :  "Oh,  don't  rub  it  out,  let  us  look  at  it  when 
we  draw."  It  is  surprising  how  well  they  imitate  in  drawing. 
I  have  had  them  imitate  my  crude  drawing  perfectly.  The 
development  in  their  drawing  power  is  marked.  The  draw- 


64  LANGUAGE. 

ings  now  are  very  different  from  the  crude  ones  they  used 
to  make  at  the  beginning  of  the  year.  They  put  in  more  de- 
tail, and  it  is  surprising  how  well  they  represent  some  parts  of 
the  story.  They  express  in  the  picture  what  they  cannot 
always  express  in  words,  and  yet  the  picture  inspires  them  to 
talk,  for  it  is  wonderful  how  much  they  will  tell  about  the 
objects  drawn.  Each  one  seems  to  mean  so  much  to  the 
child.  I  try  to  go  to  each  child  and  have  him  tell  me  the  story 
his  picture  tells,  and  many  children  will  tell  me  about  the 
pictures,  and  talk '  quite  readily,  when  ordinarily  they  seem 
backward  in  talking.  As  I  said  before,  I  think  when  a  child 
really  has  something  to  talk  about,  he  will  talk.  At  first, 
some  of  the  new  children  rather  hesitate  about  drawing,  but 
they  soon  get  over  this  timidity.  I  have  never  had  a  child 
refuse  to  draw  the  story. 

In  the  selection  of  stories,  I  have  tried  a  great  variety, 
fables,  myths,  fairy  stories,  etc.  Aesop's  fables  I  find  very  suc- 
cessful; the  children  tell  them  and  illustrate  them  well.  Of 
course,  I  make  a  selection  from  them,  for  some  I  am  sure 
would  not  appeal  to  children  of  this  age.  Some  of  the  favorites 
are:  "The  Ant  and  the  Dove,"  "The  Lion  and  the  Mouse," 
"The  Hare  and  the  Tortoise,"  "The  Snake's  Eggs,"  "The  Dog 
and  his  Shadow,"  "The  Cat  and  the  Birds,"  "The  Fox  in  the 
Well,"  and  "The  Goat  and  the  Mirror." 

I  have  tried  some  of  the  Uncle  Remus  stories,  and  consider 
them  a  success.  These  stories  have  been  put  into  simple  lan- 
guage for  primary  grades  by  Miss  Woods  of  Santa  Barbara 
and  Miss  Blair  of  Santa  Rosa.  The  "Tar  Baby"  was  a  favor- 
ite, and  the  illustrations  were  especially  good;  the  fox  peek- 
ing out  from  behind  the  tree  was  very  well  pictured  by  some. 
They  enjoyed,  too,  "Bre'r  Rabbit  and  Mr.  Man's  Little  Girl," 
"Bre'r  Rabbit  is  a  Good  Fisherman,"  and  "Bre'r  Rabbit,  Bre'r 
Fox  and  Bre'r  Buzzard,"  and  seemed  to  appreciate  fully 
the  humor  of  the  tricks  played.  They  enjoy  hearing  these 
stories,  and  draw  them  very  well,  but,  of  course,  they  are 
harder  for  children  to  tell,  and  they  do  not  tell  them  as  readily 
as  they  do  the  fables. 

I  find  that  they  always  like  stories  about  animals,  especially 
when  the  animals  are  personified.  I  think  that  is  a  chief  reason 


LANGUAGE.  65 

the  fables  and  Uncle  Remus  stories  are  popular  and  suc- 
cessful. In  drawing  animals,  it  is  noticeable  and  very  amus- 
ing to  find  that  with  few  exceptions  the  children  draw  animals 
with  the  human  face.  However,  some  striking  characteristic 
of  the  animal  is  usually  evident.  If  it  is  a  rabbit,  for  example, 
the  long  ears  are  put  on,  or  if  a  fox,  the  bushy  tail  is  there. 
In  telling  the  stories  where  animals  are  brought  in,  I  make  a 
point  to  emphasize  some  characteristic  of  the  animal,  and  I 
find  the  children  usually  repeat  it  in  the  drawing. 

I  have  tried  fairy  stories,  but  am  convinced  that  they  are 
too  long  and  complex  for  children  of  this  age,  for  there  is 
always  so  much  detail  brought  out,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
simplify  them.  Then,  too,  marriage  is  always  brought  in, 
and  little  children  do  not  appreciate  that  part.  The  "Frog 
Prince"  I  think  they  liked  very  much,  but  that  is  one  of  the 
simpler  ones.  They  drew  this  very  well,  I  thought;  the  frog 
sitting  at  the  table  and  eating  seemed  to  impress  them  as  being 
very  funny,  and  many  pictured  him  there,  or  crawling  up  the 
side  of  the  well,  with  the  gold  ball  in  his  mouth. 

Children  like  to  hear  about  mysterious  little  fairies  that  live 
in  flowers  and  do  such  wonderful  things,  and  some  sort  of  fairy 
story  might  be  good,  for  example,  the  "Pine  Tree,"  for  they 
like  that,  but  I  am  quite  certain  that  the  typical  fairy  story  does 
not  appeal  to  children  of  this  age. 

Lately  I  have  tried  myths,  some  of  the  simple  ones,  as 
"The  Golden  Touch,"  "Clytie  and  Apollo,"  and  "Latona  and 
the  Frogs,"  and  the  children  certainly  have  enjoyed  them  very 
much.  To-day  I  asked  some  one  to  tell  Marjorie,  who  had 
been  absent  several  days,  the  story  of  "Latona  and  the  Two 
Frogs,"  and  one  little  boy  told  it  as  perfectly  as  I  could.  The 
story  of  Clytie  was  illustrated  wonderfully  well  by  some;  they 
seemed  to  take  in  that  Apollo  was  a  god,  and  he  was  pictured 
in  his  chariot  in  the  clouds  in  a  visionary  sort  of  a  way.  Win- 
field  pictured  Apollo  in  the  clouds  as  the  round  sun,  with  rays, 
and  a  smiling  face  within.  This  is  so  characteristic  of  Win- 
field,  for  his  faces  are  typical  of  his  own,  and  there  is  always 
a  broad  smile  in  evidence.  The  ridiculous  always  appeals  to 
him,  and,  in  drawing,  usually  something  comical  comes  out. 
To-day,  in  drawing  a  fruit  tree,  he  drew  faces  in  the  fruit, 


66  LANGUAGE. 

much  to  the  amusement  of  himself  and  those  about  him. 

In  giving  myths,  I  should  choose  only  the  short,  simple 
ones.  I  am  sure  the  children  can  grasp  some  of  them.  Among 
other  stories  which  I  have  told,  there  is  one  about  a  little  tree 
that  grew  upon  a  rock.  This  they  liked,  and  the  moral  seeemed 
to  make  quite  an  impression  upon  them.  Then  I  found  one 
about  a  little  wave's  journey  from  the  middle  of  the  ocean — 
what  it  saw  and  what  it  brought  to  shore  with  it.  This  ap- 
pealed to  them,  of  course,  because  they  go  to  the  beach  so 
often. 

One  day,  instead  of  telling  a  story,  I  gave  each  one  a  piece 
of  paper,  and  asked  him  to  draw  some  story  I  had  told,  and 
I  went  around  and  guessed  from  the  drawing  what  the  story 
was.  This  was  very  interesting,  and  in  the  majority  of  cases  I 
guessed  the  right  story. 

In  looking  at  the  picture  books,  which  they  have  almost 
every  day,  they  often  find  pictures  which  suggest  some  story. 
One  day,  in  finding  a  picture  of  some  swans  and  goslings  on  a 
pond,  Lorena  said :  "That  is  like  the  story  you  told  us,  where 
the  ugly  duckling  was  turned  into  a  beautiful  swan."  In  find- 
ing pictures  of  animals,  they  often  speak  of  some  story  which 
the  pictures  suggest.  One  day,  while  passing  some  shells, 
which  the  children  have  collected  and  brought  from  time  to 
time,  Lawrence  found  one  with  a  little  tree-like  growth  upon 
it,  and  he  said:  "That  makes  me  think  of  the  story  of  that 
little  tree  that  grew  upon  a  rock." 

Pictures,  as  I  said,  suggest  so  much  to  the  children,  and  I 
make  a  great  deal  of  them  in  my  class.  Almost  every  day 
the  scrap-books,  animal  book,  and  collection  of  bird  pictures 
are  passed,  and  the  children  enjoy  them  and  find  a  great  deal 
to  talk  about.  I  suggested  to  them  collecting  pictures,  and 
that  each  should  make  a  book  of  his  own.  It  was  surprising 
to  find  how  enthusiastic  they  were  over  this.  Every  day 
pictures  were  brought  from  home,  and  about  twice  a  week  I 
let  them  paste  them  in  manila  paper  books,  which  I  made  for 
each.  Of  course,  there  were  pictures  of  all  kinds,  colored  and 
uncolored,  pictures  cut  out  of  magazines  and  papers  and  adver- 
tising cards.  Each  took  a  special  pride  in  his  book.  Many 
times  when  a  child  would  have  two  pictures  of  a  kind,  I  would 


LANGUAGE.  67 

see  him  trading  with  some  one  else.  Some  of  the  books,  of 
course,  were  very  much  neater  than  others,  and  some  were 
quite  characteristic  of  the  children.  Winfield's  was  made  up 
of  ridiculous  pictures — "jokes,"  as  he  called  them;  Richard's 
was  a  book  of  animals,  almost  entirely.  In  some  of  the  little 
girls'  books,  flowers,  birds,  etc.,  were  prominent. 

I  considered  this  experiment  very  successful  in  every  way, 
and  enjoyed  it  quite  as  much  as  the  children,  I  think.  They 
are  constantly  referring  in  some  way  to  stories  which  a  picture 
or  something  else  suggests  to  them,  and  I  am  convinced  that 
the  story  has  a  wonderful  effect,  and  is  one  of  the  important 
features  in  the  kindergarten.  To  me  it  certainly  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting. 

GERTRUDE  M.  DIEHL. 


THE  STORY  IN  A  MIXED  CLASS. 

Coming  in  contact  with  the  home  life  of  my  class  of  chil- 
dren, I  found  they  had  never  received  any  attention  in  so  far  as 
education  by  stories  or  pictures  is  concerned,  and  are  simply  a 
class  of  happy,  free,  out-of-door,  active  beings,  who  would  re- 
quire, under  the  rule  and  confinement  of  an  ordinary  school- 
room, a  certain  amount  of  careful  discipline.  I  began  by  hav- 
ing the  usual  "nicely  prepared"  story,  with  a  good  long,  moral 
attachment.  My  audience  consisted  of  about  one  half -inter- 
ested pupil ;  the  balance  were  having  a  good  time  in  many  ways 
in  various  parts  of  the  room.  This  went  on  until  it  was  tire- 
some all  around,  and  I  tried  many  changes  in  the  kind  of  story. 
After  a  month  I  despaired,  as  I  was  neither  pouring  in  nor  get- 
ting anything  out  by  way  of  representation,  for  no  child  can 
give  expression  unless  he  has  a  strong  impression.  At  last 
I  let  the  children  do  the  story-telling  to  see  what  they  were 
interested  in  at  home.  When  I  asked  for  stories,  there  was 
only  one  who  responded.  As  he  proceeded,  however,  several 
volunteered  to  add  of  their  stock  of  information;  the  next  day 
two  or  three  became  interested  enough  to  tell  me  something. 


68  LANGUAGE. 

These  stories  were  mere  statements  of  what  they  saw  at  home, 
or  what  they  imagined  they  saw  or  heard.  As  their  imagina- 
tion became  more  weird  and  uncanny,  I  suggested  it  made  me 
unhappy  to  hear  cruel  stories,  and  then  arose  a  contention  as 
to  which  one  could  tell  me  the  happiest  story. 

I  met  the  same  backwardness  about  the  drawing.  Lukens 
says :  Language  and  drawing  are  companions."  Only  a  few 
attempts  were  made  when  I  called  for  drawings,  and  these  were 
single  objects,  as  man,  boy,  dog,  cat,  etc.  The  reason  given 
was  a  universal  one,  "I  can't";  never,  "I  don't  want  to." 
I  kept  up  the  free  talks  for  several  weeks,  noting  carefully  all 
advances  in  the  story,  change  of  interest,  increase  in  vocabu- 
lary, the  apparent  effect  on  both  the  story-teller  and  the  listen- 
ers. They  asked  me  to  tell  them  a  story,  and  from  the  notes  T 
had  taken  I  formed  the  basis  of  my  talks.  They  always  had 
persons  and  actions  associated  in  various  ways.  No  matter 
how  many  details  were  in  my  story,  or  however  thrilling  was 
the  climax,  there  were  only  two  or  at  most  three  objects  that 
claimed  attention,  and  the  first  was  the  hero  or  heroine  of  the 
plot,  and  the  next  was  what  they  were  doing  or  making. 

One  marked  feature  in  this  daily  program  was  the  eagerness 
with  which  one  child  received  the  experiences  of  another.  In 
two  weeks  there  was  manifested  more  of  a  spirit  of  freedom, 
and  of  the  nineteen  who  formed  the  average  daily  attendance 
only  three  refused  because  of  diffidence  to  express  themselves. 
From  this  experience  I  found  that  long  stories  are  not  interest- 
ing. Stories  with  too  abstract  ideas  are  to  be  avoided ;  the  lan- 
guage and  plot  must  be  simple,  full  of  action,  and  must  appeal 
to  the  real,  every-day  life  of  the  child.  I  had  now  reached  the 
stage  in  my  acquaintance  where  I  knew,  partially,  at  least, 
what  children  could  and  would  receive  from  me,  and  the  next 
step  was  to  find  what  they  would  give  back  to  me,  and  how 
they  preferred  to  do  it.  Drawing  was  certainly  very  popular 
after  the  children  found  I  was  satisfied  with  their  crude  efforts. 
At  first  I  suggested  single  objects,  and  by  questioning  them 
as  to  their  knowledge  of  any  given  subject,  which  was  always 
a  very  familiar  one,  I  found  there  was  a  readiness  to  respond, 
on  paper,  or  at  the  board.  I  found  that  talking  earnestly  about 
any  object  acted  as  a  great  stimulus.  "From  the  heart  the 


LANGUAGE.  69 

mouth  speaketh,"  so  when  the  children  are  brimful  of  interest 
they  must  express  it. 

There  seem  to  be  three  stages  in  the  development  of  drawing 
/power;  first,  the  period  in  which  movements  are  wholly  muscu- 
lar, and  are  guided  by  visual  centers.  This  may  be  called  the 
scribble  period  of  drawing  and  is  similar  to  the  babble  period 
of  talking,  or  the  kicking  period  preceding  walking.  It  is  the 
time  reaching  up  to  the  kindergarten  age.  The  second  stage, 
from  three  to  nine  years,  marks  a  change  from  the  scribble  to 
crude  representation  and  gradual  interest  in  detail.  The  visual 
centers  show  evidences  of  extreme  instability  to  control  the 
•delicate  muscles  of  the  arm,  hand  and  fingers,  which  must  be 
presumed  to  be  coming  into  functional  existence  at  this  time. 
This  includes  the  kindergarten  period,  and,  observing  this 
""physiological  inaccuracy,"  I  give  the  children  plenty  of  scope 
to  exercise  the  larger  muscles,  the  arm  movements  at  the  board, 
or  with  soft,  black,  sketching  crayon  and  large  pieces  of  paper. 
Even  crowding  the  space  at  the  board  tends  to  produce  cramped 
work,  and  I  draw  off  spaces,  placing  the  names  at  the  top,  so 
I  may  call  upon  each  one  to  report  upon  his  drawing,  and  there 
is  no  infringement  of  territorial  rights.  The  third  stage,  which 
is  the  motive  or  interest  period  in  which  the  child  does  not 
depend  entirely  on  his  mental  idea,  but  tries  to  draw  from 
objects,  may  be  beyond  my  work,  but  if  this  second  period  re- 
ceives its  share  of  attention,  and  the  child's  mental  development 
goes  on  healthfully  with  proper  stimuli,  he  is  ready  for  the 
advance  in  execution  so  soon  as  his  mental  powers  require  it. 

Not  to  confuse  their  mental  images,  I  show  the  children  very 
simple  pictures,  both  colored  and  black  and  white.  Interest 
for  the  time  being  seems  to  lean  more  to  the  colored,  but  repro- 
duction is  not  any  better  if  quite  so  good.  The  outline  pic- 
tures are  most  readily  imitated.  I  made  a  test  of  "  Mother 
Goose  "  rhymes  as  an  incentive  to  expression.  The  children 
are  not  natural  actors  in  any  sense,  but  the  action  expressed 
in  many  of  the  jingles  caused  several  to  want  to  dramatize  the 
rhymes,  and  next  to  draw  them  on  the  board.  The  child  feels 
most  the  thing  he  tries  to  impersonate,  and  loves  best  that 
which  shows  the  most  of  himself.  This  I  observe  in  all  of 
their  work  and  play.  What  is  really  their  own  creation,  whether 


70  LANGUAGE. 

it  be  an  idea  or  a  toy,  is  most  readily  appreciated.  This  is  why 
Millicent  Shinn  and  others  discovered  that  children  prefer  to 
represent  their  own  ideas  rather  than  objects  as  they  really 
exist. 

A  great  many  old  magazines  and  picture-books  are  freely 
used,  with  the  privilege  of  selecting  what  the  children  desire 
for  scrap  books.  The  pictures  are  cut  out  and  pasted  accord- 
ing to  the  children's  own  ideas.  Occasionally  one  will  refer 
to  me  to  know  whether  I  would  cut  it  a  certain  way  or  suggest 
another.  Looking  at  pictures  becomes  consequently  more  of 
a  business  than  it  was  when  I  merely  placed  the  books  in  their 
hands  to  look  at.  Every  child  has  a  choice,  and  these  choices 
are  afterwards  drawn  on  the  board  or  paper,  not  as  an  imita- 
tion, but  from  a  mental  image.  I  have  lined  the  walls  with 
standard  pictures,  mostly  in  black  and  white  copies,  from  the 
works  of  the  best  artists,  and  I  have  found  that  only  so  much 
appeals  to  the  childish  mind  as  has  become  a  part  of  individual 
experience.  Pictures  with  too  many  facts  portrayed  do  not 
reach  them  at  all,  and  they  seem  relieved  to  find,  in  the  hetero- 
geneous mass,  a  stray  dog,  cow  or  cat  upon  which  to  rest. 

In  an  experiement  with  models  I  gave  the  casts  of  a  cat 
and  a  dog,  and  received  exactly  the  same  kind  of  picture  as 
was  drawn  without  the  model;  this  was  also  true  after  I  had 
taken  two  live,  active  dogs  into  the  kindergarten  for  several 
days  and  had  them  for  playmates. 

One  secret  of  success  I  am  sure  rests  in  being  able  to  accept 
whatever  the  children  do  and  in  cherishing  it  as  an  expression 
of  an  honest  effort,  notwithstanding  the  many  temptations  to 
read  into  their  work  something  that  is  not  there. 

I  frequently  ask  them  to  reproduce  some  object  with  chalk 
or  pencil  that  has  been  formed  with  the  blocks,  sticks,  clay  or 
other  material. 

To  avoid  weariness  of  drawing  I  try  to  change  the  order; 
one  day  our  paper  will  be  folded  in  the  form  of  a  book  or 
frame  of  some  novel  shape,  or  I  change  to  colored  pencils  or 
brushes,  and  the  drawing  period  is  not  over  ten  minutes  with 
privilege  of  returning  to  their  seats  if  they  choose. 

Rulers  and  a  great  variety  of  geometric  forms  in  blocks 
of  all  sizes  are  placed  where  they  can  have  them  to  play  with 


LANGUAGE.  7i 

every  day,  but  no  attempt  has  ever  been  made  to  draw  or  form 
conventional  figures.  One  little  boy  chanced  to  cut  a  beauty 
form  with  scissors,  but  no  persuasion  could  get  him  to  name 
it  until  he  made  another  attempt  and  cut  two  pieces  resembling 
feet,  then  he  quickly  called  it  a  baby. 

From  the  single-object  drawing,  the  class  of  their  own  free 
choice  has  advanced  in  three  months  to  group-drawings.  No 
criticism  as  to  number  of  objects,  kind  or  accuracy  has  ever  been 
made.  I  have  asked  that  so  much  of  the  story  as  could  be 
remembered  be  drawn,  and  in  a  few  instances  complimented 
one  or  two  who  produced  extra  large  ones.  The  spirit  of  com- 
petition is  quite  marked  in  some  instances,  and  a  hint  to  one 
reacts  on  many.  The  most  backward  boy  I  had  in  the  begin- 
ning, one  who  could  neither  draw  nor  tell  a  story,  has  devel- 
oped a  remarkable  taste  for  drawing,  and  has  gone  so  far  in 
detail  as  to  add  roots,  branches  and  fruit  to  his  trees,  and  aprons 
to  his  little  girls. 

Discipline  is  one  of  the  advantages  in  drawing.  I  owe  to 
music  and  drawing  a  large  share  of  the  "subduing  tendency" 
in  harmonizing  physical  actions  of  my  band,  so  unruly  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year.  This  was  accomplished  through  the 
attention  and  quiet  required  during  these  two  short  periods. 

MAY  REESE. 


CLAY  MODELING. 


With  our  work  in  clay  modeling  this  year,  we  have  followed 
the  plan  of  drawing  from  the  child  self-expression  and  indi- 
viduality rather  than  to  give  him  any  definite  training  in  form- 
study  or  work  from  models. 

The  work  heretofore  had  seemed  very  mechanical  and  of  but 
little  value  to  the  child.  Many  kindergartens  have  the  chil- 
dren model  cubes,  cylinders,  tomatoes,  leaves  on  plaques,  etc., 
endeavoring  to  have  them  do  artistic  and  finished  work,  but 
to  me  it  seems  that  the  clay  should  be  used  more  spontaneously, 
and  represent  individuality  and  the  creative  work  of  the  child. 

We  had  the  clay  modeling  almost  every  day  at  the  beginning 


7*  LANGUAGE.. 

of  the  term,  and  later  three  times  a  week  regularly,  besides 
the  times  when  the  children  chose  it  of  their  own  free  will.  It 
was  always  kept  in  a  soft,  ready  condition,  and  plenty  of  it  on 
hand,  but,  strange  to  say,  if  left  to  themselves,  the  children  all 
made  diminutive  objects,  breaking  their  piece  of  clay  up  into* 
small  pieces. 

They  did  not  seem  equal  to  moulding  objects  on  a 
large  scale,  and  rarely  have  I  seen  them  mould  an  object 
from  a  whole  piece,  usually  making  the  ears,  legs,  tails,  etc., 
and  attaching  to  a  main  body. 

The  time  allowed  for  the  use  of  the  clay  was  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  minutes.  A  longer  time  seemed  to  lead  to  careless 
work  on  the  part  of  many  children.  Some  days  they  would 
all  be  asked  to  mould  the  same  thing,  and  then,  again,  each  child 
could  mould  the  object  which  he  pleased.  Individuality  of 
interests  is  very  strongly  brought  out  in  this  class  of  work. 
In  a  class  of  twenty-five  children  there  have  often  been 
twenty  different  objects  made  by  as  many  children.  Perhaps 
children  side  by  side  will  each  make  four  or  five  different 
things,  each  one  working  out  his  own  ideas  regardless  of  the 
others,  and  again  imitation  will  play  a  great  role,  inspiring 
many  children,  lacking  in  originality,  to  try  and  produce  some- 
thing like  that  of  his  neighbor.  The  value  of  imitation  and 
wise  suggestions  is  very  important,  and  much  may  be  done 
by  the  teacher  in  an  incidental  way. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  almost  every  child  seems  to  work 
for  one  or  more  characteristics,  or  striking  features,  in  the 
making  of  animals.  They  are  content  if  in  making  a  rabbit 
the  ears  are  tall  and  stand  up  straight,  even  though  the  body 
may  be  long  and  angular.  One  child  made  a  cow  with  good 
head  and  horns,  but  no  legs;  another  a  cat  with  type  ears  and 
four  feet,  but  much  too  heavy  tail ;  a  rat,  with  a  grotesque  body, 
but  long,  slim  tail,  seemed  satisfactory.  The  instances  are 
innumerable  where  the  child  seems  satisfied  with  such  work, 
in  fact,  the  average  child  prefers  to  make  many  cruder  objects 
with  one  or  more  type  features,  than  to  make  one  object  with 
accuracy  and  finish  of  detail.  There  are  exceptional  cases 
where  a  child  will  work  with  wonderful  finish  and  proportion 
of  parts,  but  such  a  child  seems  something  of  a  prodigy. 


LANGUAGE.  73 

Most  of  the  children,  whether  four  or  five,  seem  to  go 
through  a  marble  and  ball  making  stage — these  being  the  first 
objects  generally  attempted.  It  is  followed  by  the  making  of 
animals,  birds'  nests  and  eggs,  papa's  pipe,  cigar,  wagons, 
chairs,  spools,  etc. 

Strange  to  say,  they  never  modeled  any  dishes  until  I  placed 
a  toy  tea  set  on  the  table,  but  only  a  few  plates,  sugar-bowls 
and  teapots  were  made. 

The  making  of  the  human  figure  does  not  appear  first,  as 
in  the  drawing,  except  in  exceptional  cases.  Babies,  with  ball 
heads  and  rolls  of  clay  for  legs,  appear  in  cradles,  but  are  not 
made  extensively.  As  in  drawing,  the  work  is  very  crude,  but 
it  has  the  great  value  of  being  original  and  offering  an  insight 
into  the  child's  mind.  He  will  often  stumble  upon  something 
remarkable  by  accidentally  moulding  a  shape  and  recognizing 
its  likeness  to  a  familiar  object. 

Children  of  the  kindergarten  age  do  not  enjoy  working  from 
a  set  model.  Its  individual  characteristics  are  not  important 
to  them.  A  type  apple  is  the  same  to  them  as  a  particular  one. 
and  I  have  found  after  many  experiments,  both  ways,  that 
they  represent  an  object  from  memory  with  more  readiness  and 
satisfaction  than  if  asked  to  make  one  just  like  the  teacher's 
model. 

Stories  that  have  been  told  are  often  illustrated  spontaneously 
with  the  clay.  "Rub-a-dub,  dub,  three  men  in  a  tub,"  was 
very  suggestive,  and  many  clay  boats  and  tubs  were  made  with 
three  and  five  or  more  men  in  them.  After  repeating  the  rhyme 
of  "Jack,  be  nimble,"  I  suggested  we  all  try  making  candle- 
sticks and  candles.  Great  individuality  was  shown,  and  all 
made  the  kind  they  knew.  Some  were  regular  tall,  brass  ones, 
like  those  seen  in  churches,  and  others  had  saucers  and  han- 
dles in  various  shapes. 

GAIL   HARRISON. 


Music. 

The  instinct  for  musical  appreciation  and  expression  devel- 
ops very  early,  and  is  in  a  highly  sensitive  and  teachable  state 
during  the  kindergarten  period.  Infants  in  the  first  year  of 
life  frequently  imitate  the  musical  cadences  of  a  conversation 
to  a  perfection  that  is  surprising.  Many  can  carry  a  tune  in 
the  second  year.  In  brain  softening  of  the  language  centers, 
known  as  aphasia,  it  is  the  musical  cadence  of  speech  which  is 
lost  last,  as  it  is  the  first  gained  in  speech  acquirement.  Gil- 
bert has  shown  that  at  six  years  the  child  is  able  to  detect 
intervals  far  more  delicate  than  any  of  the  requirements  of 
ordinary  music  demand.  Lancaster,  from  the  biographies  of 
one  hundred  famous  musicians,  has  shown  that  the  average 
age  at  which  they  have  shown  striking  evidence  of  ability  is 
under  ten  years.  What  is  the  function  of  music  in  the  Kinder- 
garten ? 

Dr.  C.  C.  Van  Liew,  in  a  review  of  the  conclusions  of  recent 
studies  of  children's  preferences  in  music,  shows  that  their 
instinctive  likings  fall  into  a  few  well-marked  groups  of  which 
the  more  important  are  martial  or  patriotic  selections,  religious 
selections,  and  music  of  the  tender  emotions  which  center  about 
the  home.  Studies  in  the  music  of  primitive  peoples  and  among 
animals  show  that  these  groupings,  which  children  prefer,  ex- 
tend in  tapering  tongues  far  backward  in  human  civilization 
and  finally  show  their  roots  originating  in  the  mating,  fighting, 
and  fearing  instincts  of  lower  animals.  Through  racial  ages 
music  has  been  linked  with  certain  emotions,  primarily  those 
of  love,  patriotism,  awe  and  religious  worship.  Upon  the 
psychological  principle  that  states  long  associated  together  be- 
come incentives  by  which  one  arouses  the  other,  the  function 
of  music  in  the  early  periods  of  life  is  coming  to  be  regarded, 


MUSIC.  75 

not  as  an  art,  but  as  something  more  fundamental — an  incentive 
by  which  to  excite  in  the  child  the  latent  racial  emotions,  love 
of  home,  country  and  God.  Music,  in  this  primitive  stage, 
belongs  not  to  art,  but  to  morals.  Further,  in  its  immediate 
origin,  we  know  music  has  been  most  intimately  associated 
with  the  rhythmic  dance.  Music  in  the  kindergarten  must  be 
upon  the  simpler,  more  primitive  plane,  accompanied  by  move- 
ments and  appealing  by  strong  accentuation  to  the  patriotic, 
religious  and  home  sentiments.  We  have  heretofore  been  at- 
tempting too  much  in  the  kindergarten  to  graft  upon  early 
childhood  an  appreciation  of  the  more  subtly  aesthetic  phases 
of  music  as  an  art.  Music  as  an  art  has  a  later  place  in  the 
child's  education. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

1 .  Dr.  C.  C.  Van  Liew :   The  bearings  of  Musical  Develop- 
ment on  the  Musical  Training  of  the  Child.    Proc.  Cal.  Teach- 
ers' Ass'n.,  1897,  pp.  186-97. 

2.  Fanny  B.   Gates :    The  Musical  Interests  of  Children. 
Journal  of  Pedagogy,  October,  1898. 

3.  J.  A.  Gilbert:   Experiments  upon  the  Musical  Sensitive- 
ness of  School  Children.     Yale  Psychological  Studies,  vol.  i, 
pp.  80-87. 

4.  Frederic  Burk:    The  Evolution  of  Music  and  Practical 
Pedagogical  Applications.     Proc.  California  Teachers'  Asso- 
ciation, 1898. 

5.  Morel  McKenzie:    Hygiene  of  the  Vocal  Organs.     Mc- 
Millan, 1888. 

FREDERIC  BURK. 


THE  METHOD  OF  MUSIC  INSTRUCTION. 

In  the  second  week  of  October,  music  was  introduced  into 
the  city  schools  and  kindergartens.  Since  that  time  teachers' 
meetings  have  been  held  for  the  discussion  of  methods  and 
plans  of  carrying  on  the  work  with  the  little  ones,  and  lessons 
have  been  given  to  the  teachers  in  tone  and  singing,  and  sug- 
gestions made  in  regard  to  the  use  of  the  piano. 


76  MUSIC, 

The  steps  taken  in  music  in  the  kindergartens  have  been 
suggested  by  the  action  of  the  children  themselves,  and  not 
by  any  preconceived  ideas  of  the  supervisor  of  music  or  of  the 
teachers.  Many  songs  and  games  have  been  presented  to  the 
children  which  were  not  continued  because  of  lack  of  interest 
and  because  they  have  never  been  asked  for  by  the  children; 
therefore  they  will  not  be  discussed  in  this  paper.  There  has 
been  no  attempt  to  teach  music,  but  simply  to  give  the  proper 
environment  for  stimulating  a  desire  to  hear  and  to  sing.  We 
have  worked  on  the  idea  that  children  should  hear  a  great 
deal  of  music  before  they  are  expected  to  render  any,  and  the 
results  have  been  most  encouraging.  Besides  listening  intently 
to  what  is  played  or  sung  for  them,  the  children  manifest  a 
desire  to  enter  into  the  music  with  a  whole-heartedness  that 
is  surprising,  and  which  meets  our  most  sanguine  expecta- 
tions. 

To  lead  the  children  to  listen  to  music,  they  were  at  first 
allowed  to  stand  in  any  position,  and  after  their  interested 
attention  was  secured  for  an  instant,  they  were  told  they  would 
be  allowed  to  do  anything  they  chose — run,  clap  hands,  march, 
sit,  go  to  sleep,  sing,  play,  dance,  rock  dolls,  play  horse,  or  do 
anything  the  music  told  them  to  do.  At  first  they  generally 
followed  a  leader,  self  appointed,  but  after  several  times  doing 
what  they  did  not  exactly  think  the  music  told  them  to  do, 
many  became  independent  and  marked  their  own  rhythm  and 
interpreted  to  suit  their  own  fancies.  For  instance,  the  teacher 
at  the  piano  played  selections  from  "Marching  through  Geor- 
gia," "Home,  Sweet  Home,"  "Coming  Through  the  Rye," 
"Traumerei,"  "Anvil  Chorus,"  and  the  like,  varying  the  pro- 
gram from  day  to  day.  These  were  never  announced  nor 
explained.  The  children  were  left  free  to  do  what  they  wished, 
and  from  the  first  they  showed  much  interest  in  listening  and 
"finding  a  story"  for  themselves. 

This  work  should  not  be  mistaken  for  the  work  that  has 
been  carried  on  for  years  in  the  kindergarten,  where  stories 
are  told  of  musical  compositions,  such  as  the  Wagner  operas, 
a  Mozart  sonata,  or  the  Moonlight  sonata,  and  then  the  chil- 
dren are  directed  to  "listen  to  the  piano  tell  the  same  story," 
while  the  pianist  plays  the  composition  she  has  already  inter- 


MUSIC. 


77 


preted,  with  the  hope  of  showing  the  poor,  little  things  the 
spiritual  meaning  of  Lohengrin. 

With  us  there  is  no  suggestion  of  the  meaning,  in  story  or 
otherwise — no  "logical  sequence"  leading  up  to  the  piano  play- 
ing. The  children  are  simply  led  to  express,  in  their  own 
way,  the  emotion  that  the  music  suggests,  and  when  they  do 
so  by  clapping  hands,  running,  or  quietly  listening,  no  com- 
ment whatever  is  made  in  regard  to  the  right  or  wrong  inter- 
pretation. 

A  great  deal  of  attention  has  been  given  to  physical  rhythm, 
going  through  the  steps  the  race  has  taken  to  develop  music, 
except  in  a  much  less  crude  manner.  We  dance,  clap  hands 
and  use  all  sorts  of  motions  to  songs,  not  for  the  sake  of  teach- 
ing gesture,  nor  to  give  meaning  to  the  words,  but  to  have  the 
child  feel  the  rhythm.  The  following  have  been  the  most  pop- 
ular songs  for  this  purpose,  and  are  given  in  the  order  they 
were  used : 

1.  "Did  You  Ever  See  a  Lassie." 

2.  "Children  Go,  To  and  Fro." 

3.  "The  Young  Musician." 

4.  "Jack  Horner"  and  other  "Mother  Goose"  melodies. 

5.  "Looby  Loo." 

6.  "The  Country  Dance." 

7.  "Anvil  Chorus." 

Of  the  songs  without  physical  action,  the  following  is  decid- 
edly the  most  popular : 

"  Once  I  got  into  a  boat, 
Such  a  pretty,  pretty  boat, 
Just  as  the  day  was  dawning; 
And  I  took  a  little  oar, 
And  I  pushed  away  from  shore, 
So  very,  very  early  in  the  morning." 

The  children  have  drawn  it,  represented  it  in  clay,  insisting 
upon  its  being  "not  a  boat,  but  'Once  I  got  into  a  boat'  " ;  have 
dramatized  it,  and  never  failed  to  ask  for  it  when  given  an 
opportunity  to  choose. 


78  MUSIC. 

Kindergartners  usually  present  the  words,  with  explanation, 
first,  and  for  several  days  play  the  tune  on  the  piano  before 
putting  words  and  tune  together.  We  present  the  song  in  its 
entirety,  with  action  and  without  explanation.  For  instance, 
the  teacher  sits  at  the  table  with  the  pupils,  and,  without  any 
story  or  remarks,  sings  an  entire  verse  of : 

"  O,  the  blacksmith's  a  fine,  sturdy  fellow; 
Hard  his  hand,  but  his  heart's  true  and  mellow." 

At  the  same  time  she  strikes  the  table  with  fist,  and,  keep- 
ing the  rhythm,  "plays  blacksmith."  The  children  never  fail 
to  catch  the  impulse,  and  upon  repetition  of  the  verse  need  no 
urging  to  sing.  Although  they  do  not  get  the  words  right, 
and,  in  fact,  do  not  understand  the  meaning  of  them  except 
to  get  a  general  idea  of  the  story,  they  accept  the  song  if  it 
is  vigorous  and  rhythmical. 

Small  children  sing  very  difficult  intervals  if  the  swing  of 
the  song  pleases,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  success  of  their 
musical  training  depends  upon  the  power  of  the  teacher,  and 
if  the  kindergartners  were  trained  to  know  music,  as  they  are 
to  know  many  less  useful  things  in  the  professional  schools, 
they  could  give  the  child  an  impulse  that  would  be  lifelong, 
for  certainly  he  sings  as  naturally  as  he  talks.  All  that  is 
needed  is  proper  guiding  to  develop  what,  is  too  often  killed 
by  improper  teaching. 

Besides  the  work  described,  we  sing  "Good  Morning"  songs, 
prayers,  games,  songs  of  trades,  nature  songs,  "Good  Byes," 
in  fact,  songs  for  all  times  and  places.  The  teachers  all  sing 
and  yet  the  children  are  made  to  feel  that  they  are  expected  to 
sing  alone,  and  do  often  carry  choruses  alone. 

As  a  test  of  their  power  to  recognize  the  music  that  is  played 
and  sung  for  and  by  them,  the  supervisor  often  plays  a  pro- 
gram of  twenty  or  more  selections.  The  first  week  in  May 
the  following  test  was  given.  The  supervisor  of  music  upon 
her  weekly  visit  to  each  kindergarten  said : 

"Now,  children,  you  may  do  whatever  the  piano  tells  you 
to  do,"  and  played  the  following :  "Cold  Water  Song,"  march 
from  "Figaro,"  "Home,  Sweet  Home,"  "Young  Musician/' 


MUSIC. 


79 


"Lohengrin,"  "Little  Bo  Peep,"  "Looby  Loo,"  "Jolly  Old 
St.  Nicholas,"  "Once  I  Got  into  a  Boat,"  "Good  Bye  to  You," 
"Did  You  Ever  See  a  Lassie,"  "Lucia  de  Lammermoor" 
march,  "Country  Dance,"  "Sleep,  Baby,  Sleep,"  "Children  Go, 
To  and  Fro,"  "Dance  of  the  Brownies,"  "Shine  Out,  O  Blessed 
Star,"  "Lips  Say  Good  Morning,"  "Anvil  Chorus."  During 
the  recital,  which  was  not  so  long  as  the  program  would  indi- 
cate, because  only  snatches  from  these  compositions  were 
played,  most  of  the  pupils  sang  or  marked  time  with  some 
motion,  which  had  accompanied  the  first  rendition,  or  by  some 
action  of  their  own,  showed  they  recognized  and  were  able  to 
recall  the  entire  program.  It  certainly  was  interesting  to  see 
them  listen  just  an  instant  at  the  change  of  tune,  and  then  take 
the  motion  or  step  to  some  song  they  had  not  heard  for  months 
or  weeks.  And,  although  to  a  casual  observer  our  work  may 
seem  fragmentary  and  purposeless,  because  it  is  not  carried  out 
on  the  logical  plan,  we  are  sure  of  the  fact  that  the  chil- 
dren like  to  sing,  and  in  everything  they  do,  whether  drawing, 
clay  modeling,  playing  with  blocks,  rocking  dolls,  sand  work, 
or  looking  at  pictures,  they  are  constantly  reminded  of  some 
song,  and  the  desire  to  sing  is  manifest  in  their  action. 

The  work  that  has  been  carried  on  throughout  the  entire 
school  system  has  made  it  an  easy  matter  to  get  the  child  to 
express  himself.  The  very  atmosphere  has  been  impregnated 
with  self-helpfulness. 

The  daily  program  includes  at  least  ten  songs,  and  more 
often  fifteen,  besides  the  piano  playing,  in  order  something  like 
this :  March,  "Good  Morning,"  prayer,  free  choice,  when  sev- 
eral songs  are  sung,  singing  at  tables,  piano  playing  for  rest, 
cultivation  of  ear,  singing  during  free  play,  lesson  in  rhythm, 
songs  and  "Good  Byes." 

Of  course,  there  has  been  individual  work  with  those  who 
do  not  sing  in  class.  On  account  of  the  close  relationship  of 
the  kindergartners  and  the  home,  we  learned  that  many  of  the 
children  sing  at  home  and  teach  the  songs  to  their  little  broth- 
ers and  sisters,  and  we  believe  the  reason  for  their  silence  in 
class  is  timidity  or  inability  to  respond  to  the  same  rhythm, 
and  when  they  seem  indifferent  they  are  perhaps  taking  in 
more  than  they  would  if  urged  to  sing.  With  proper  encour- 


go  MUSIC. 

agement  they  come  into  class  in  time.  The  "monotones"  re- 
ceive more  help,  and  the  ear  is  trained  with  piano  and  voice. 
While  they  are  encouraged,  they  are  not  told  they  are  right 
except  when  they  are.  Kindergartners  have  done  much  harm 
in  allowing  monotones  to  pass  through  the  kindergartens,  be- 
lieving they  were  singing.  We  take  the  tone  they  give,  and 
work  up  and  down  from  that,  and  we  have  a  plan  for  encour- 
aging all  the  children  to  make  tunes  of  their  own,  which  gives 
the  "monotones"  an  opportunity  to  express  themselves.  It 
has  not  been  tried  long  enough  to  determine  whether  this  will 
prove  helpful  or  otherwise. 

Pianos  are  all  tuned  to  the  international  pitch,  and  are  used 
for  the  exercises  in  rhythm  and  for  training  the  ear  to  various 
tunes.  Nothing  but  good  music  is  played,  but  never  an  entire 
composition.  The  motif  is  played  distinctly  and  changed  often, 
that  is,  at  one  sitting  the  teacher  plays  several  snatches  of  good 
compositions. 

Thus,  while  we  are  trying  to  hold  the  interested  attention 
of  the  little  ones,  we  are  in  no  way  forcing  the  attention,  but 
are  aiming  to  satisfy  the  musical  instinct,  and  keep  in  mind 
that  the  emotions  develop  before  the  higher  intellectual  powers, 
and  it  naturally  follows  that  exercise  of  these  emotions  goes 
before  the  more  abstract  lessons. 

JULIET  POWELL  RICE, 
Supervisor  of  Music. 


Children's  Spontaneous  Choice  and  Use  of 
Kindergarten  Materials. 

The  kindergarten  is  loaded  down  with  an  unsifted  mass  of 
material  which  has  been  chosen  by  the  adult  mind  as  suitable 
for  the  logical  development  of  the  child  and  which  has  been 
used  as  the  basis  of  dictation  exercises,  arranged  in  formal 
sequence.  The  child  has  not  been  particularly  consulted  either 
in  the  choice  of  material,  or  in  the  use  to  be  made  of  it,  and 
just  what  the  natural  reaction  toward  these  materials,  or  their 
use,  is,  on  the  part  of  the  well-behaved,  docile  little  puppets  who 
furnish  the  background  in  the  drama  of  the  gifts  and  occupa- 
tions, is  hard  to  determine.  The  Santa  Barbara  kindergartens 
were  anxious  to  discover  the  spontaneous  reaction  of  the  chil- 
dren toward  the  traditional  kindergarten  materials,  and  for 
this  purpose  a  test  was  made,  of  sufficient  educational  value 
in  itself,  however,  it  was  thought,  to  redeem  it  from  the  purely 
experimental  plane. 

The  test  was  as  follows:  Every  day  for  half  an  hour  the 
kindergarten  materials,  the  gifts  and  occupations,  were  spread 
on  a  table  and  each  child  chose  what  one  thing  he  cared  to 
play  with  for  that  time.  At  first  the  idea  was  carried  out  in 
the  form  of  a  play;  the  table  and  its  contents  were  supposed 
to  be  a  store,  and  the  children  came,  and,  using  the  tablets  or 
parquetry  circles  for  money,  bought  what  they  w&nted,  so  that 
that  half  hour  of  the  day  came  to  be  known  as  "store  time," 
a  name  which  clung  to  it  long  after  the  "store"  idea  was 
reduced  simply  to  the  less  romantic  "free-choice  time."  Each 
child  took  his  material  to  his  seat,  as  a  rule,  and  there  did  what 
he  pleased  with  it.  The  following  materials  were  used :  Beads 
(spheres,  cubes  and  cylinders  of  various  colors),  with  strings, 
blocks,  clay,  first-gift  balls,  second-gift  cubes,  spheres  and 
cylinders,  lentils,  parquetry,  folding  paper,  pencil  and  paper, 


82 


KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS. 


rings,  scissors  and  paper,  sewing  cards,  slats,  sticks,  tablets 
and  tile  boards.  The  sewing  cards  were  ready  perforated  with 
holes,  large  and  far  apart  (on  the  average  a  half  inch),  repre- 
senting animals,  fruit,  designs,  etc. 

The  test  covered  a  period  of  two  months,  and  was  carried 
on  in  the  four  kindergartens.  The  first  month  was  allowed 
as  a  preliminary  step,  during  which  time  the  children  were 
becoming  accustomed  to  the  novelty  of  the  idea,  and  the  kin- 
dergartners  Were  experimenting  on  the  best  way  of  giving  out 
the  material  and  of  keeping  a  record  of  the  choices  made.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  second  month  all  was  ready  for  a  sys- 
tematic, uniform  method  of  procedure.  The  children  had  set- 
tled down  and  accepted  the  performance  in  a  matter-of-fact  way. 
They  were  by  this  time  quite  familiar  with  all  the  materials, 
so  that  mere  novelty  of  any  special  material  could  not  influ- 
ence choice.  From  a  study  of  the  various  notes  made  by  the 
kindergartners  during  the  first  month  it  was  decided  just  what 
sort  of  uniform  record  should  be  kept.  Squares  were  blocked 
out  on  a  large  sheet  of  paper;  the  names  of  the  children  were 
Written  in  a  vertical  column  on  the  left;  the  record  of  each 
child  was  kept  in  a  horizontal  column  to  the  right,  each  square 
representing  a  day,  as  follows : 


Mon.  Apr.  17 

Tues.  Apr.  18. 

Wed.  Apr.  19. 

Thurs.  Apr.  20. 

Fri.  Apr.  21. 

Minnie 

Beads. 

Classified  by 
color. 

Clay. 
Represented  a 
man. 

Clay. 
Represented  a 
boat. 

Scissors  and 
paper. 
Made  doll's 
handkerchief 
fringed. 

Scissors  and 
paper. 
Made  designs. 

Adolph 

Sewing  card. 

Blocks. 
Made  a  barn. 

Beads. 
No  order. 

Clay. 
Made  mouse. 

Parquetry. 
Design. 

Thus  running  the  eye  across  the  page  one  could  see  the 
whole  number  of  choices  made  in  succession  by  each  child  dur- 
ing the  month;  looking  down  the  page,  one  could  see  the 
choices  made  by  all  the  children  on  any  particular  day.  In 
each  square  were  written :  first,  what  material  the  child  chose ; 
second,  what  he  did  with  that  material.  In  this  wiay  it  was 
sought  to  discover  what  materials  appealed  most  largely  to  the 
children  and  what  was  their  spontaneous  use  of  the  various 
materials.  The  kindergartners  were  careful  to  have  each 


KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS.  83 

child's  choice  as  independent  as  posible.  To  avoid  the  danger 
of  suggestion  some  of  them  even  had  each  child,  after  he  had 
looked  over  the  table,  whisper  what  he  wanted,  and  then  when 
all  had  chosen  distributed  the  material.  The  records  of  the 
E  and  A  classes  were  kept  separate  in  order  to  note  differences 
between  the  first  and  second-year  children;  the  records  in  the 
four  wards  were  also  worked  over  separately  to  note  the  influ- 
ence of  different  environment,  and  later  were  combined  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  what  interests  persisted  in  spite  of  environ- 
ment and  remained  fundamental.  Now  as  to  the  results  of  the 
test. 

CHOICE  OF  MATERIAL. 

The  whole  number  of  choices  made  in  the  four 
kindergartens  was  1755,  of  which  804  were  in  the  A 
classes,  that  is,  the  second-year  children  from  five  to  six 
years  of  age,  and  951  were  in  the  B  classes,  composed  of  the 
first-year  children  from  four  to  five  years  of  age. 

A  study  of  the  records  of  the  four  kindergartens  shows  great 
uniformity  in  the  results,  with  but  a  few  exceptions,  which  we 
should  naturally  expect,  due,  perhaps,  to  some  previous  train- 
ing, or  some  influence  causing  a  run  of  a  certain  thing  in  a 
certain  kindergarten.  It  is  supposable  that  kindergartens  may 
have  fads  as  well  as  other  bodies  of  people,  and  the  "psychol- 
ogy of  the  crowd"  may  begin  as  far  down  as  the  kindergarten. 
For  example,  in  one  kindergarten  blocks  were  unusually  popu- 
lar, owing  to  an  intense  interest  developed  in  them  previous 
to  the  "store"  experiment,  an  interest  which  was  due  to  the 
remarkable  blocks  themselves,  elegant,  huge  blocks,  as  they 
were,  straight  from  the  planing  mill.  Beads,  so  popular  in  the 
three  other  kindergartens,  were  hardly  chosen  at  all  in  this 
one.  The  children  had  formerly  used  the  beads  as  blocks  to 
build  with,  instead  of  for  stringing,  and  when  some  larger  play 
blocks,  and  then  the  huge  planing-mill  blocks,  were  introduced 
in  turn,  the  charm  of  the  beads  vanished.  Another  striking 
exception  was  in  the  B  class  of  the  third  ward.  Clay,  so  uni- 
versally enjoyed,  was  here  hardly  touched,  while  the  first  gift 
ball,  which  was  of  less  interest  in  the  other  wards,  was  over- 
whelmingly popular  in  this  ward.  This  is  explained  by  the  fact 


84  KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS. 

that  this  particular  class  consists  of  very  immature  Spanish 
children,  who  are  hardly  beyond  the  stage  of  physical  play,  and 
might  really  be  called  a  C  class. 

Beyond  these  two  striking  exceptions,  easily  explained  by 
the  local  conditions,  there  are  only  minor  variations  in  the 
different  kindergartens.  The  emphatic  feature  in  the  records 
is  the  uniformity,  leaving  us  to  believe  that  the  results  show  the 
workings  of  fundamental,  universal  interest,  rather  than  the 
effect  of  local  environment.  By  uniting  the  four  records,  too, 
we  eliminate  local  variations  and  strike  a  safe  average.  The 
table  and  chart  given  below  show  the  combined  result  of  all  the 
choices,  and  the  proportion  of  the  children  in  both  classes 
choosing  the  various  materials.  The  lower  black  lines  repre- 
sent the  second-year  children,  or  the  A  class;  the  dotted  lines 
represent  the  first-year  children,  or  the  B  class. 

From  Chart  I  it  will  be  seen:  i,  that  certain  materials  are 
very  little  chosen — the  second  gift  blocks  separate  from  the 
general  mixed  play  blocks,  the  lentils,  the  rings,  the  sticks,  the 
tablets,  the  slats,  the  folding  paper.  The  pencil  and  paper,  too, 
are  not  much  chosen,  being  outweighed  by  the  larger,  freer 
drawing  on  the  board  at  another  time  of  the  day;  2,  that  cer- 
tain materials  are  moderately  popular,  as  beads  and  parquetry, 
the  tile  board  and  the  blocks;  and  3,  that  the  two  materials  far 
outstripping  the  rest  in  interest  are  clay  and  the  sewing- 
card. 

The  folding-paper  and  the  lentils  were  never  chosen  more 
than  once  by  an  A  class  child,  or  twice  by  a  B  class  child. 
Slats  were  selected  not  more  than  two  times  by  any  child. 
This  was  true  also  of  the  tablets  and  the  rings.  In  the  A 
class  no  child  ever  chose  the  tile  board,  the  beads,  or  the 
sticks  more  than  twice.  The  handling  of  such  material  one 
or  two  times  was  sufficient  to  prove  its  limited  capabilities. 
On  the  other  hand,  clay  was  often  chosen  five,  six  or  seven, 
even  eleven,  times  by  the  same  child.  The  average  number 
of  times  that  it  was  chosen  by  those  selecting  it  at  all  was  4.7 
times.  The  sewing-card  was  in  some  instances  taken  fifteen 
and  sixteen  times,  the  average  number  being  five  times. 

We  may  notice  a  few  points  of  difference  in  the  choices 
of  the  first  and  second-year  children.  To  the  first-year  chil- 


KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS.  85 

clren  the  materials  possess  greater  novelty.  Their  choice 
is  consequently  more  scattered.  Their  interests  are  less  dif- 
ferentiated, less  narrowed  down,  more  general.  They  are 
in  the  experimental  stage  where  they  want  to  try  every- 
thing and  find  its  value,  or  where,  not  knowing  so  well  the 
capabilities  of  any  certain  object,  they  are  attracted  by  some 


Chart  I,  Showing  Choice  of  Materials. 


Per 
ct. 


\m 

Sewing  card 


Clay 


B 

Beads 

A 


Parquetry 


tA 

Tileboard 


Bk»cfes 


1st  Gift 


a 
Scissors  &  paper 

E 
Pencil  and  paper 

i— 

Sticks 


Rings 

~T3 

Tablets 

_A 
"l 

Folding-paper 

•M 

_     1 

2nd  Gift 

™"T3 

Lentils 

A 

Slats 

A 


86  KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS. 

pleasing  external  feature,  and  they  choose  not  knowing 
what  they  are  going  to  do  with  the  object.  No  one  choice 
stands  out  so  prominently.  Beads  represent  the  largest 
choice  of  the  B  classes,  though  only  19$,  followed  closely 
by  clay,  18^;  then  the  sewing-card,  1^/2^',  the  tile  board, 
10%$;  parquetry,  10$;  the  first  gift,  7$;  and  blocks,  7$. 
The  second-year  children,  on  the  contrary,  with  more  experi- 
ence behind  them,  narrow  their  choice  largely  down  to  two 
or  three  definite  lines.  The  sewing-card  and  clay  are  most 
strikingly  prominent,  occupying  70$  of  all  the  choices,  and 
folowed  much  more  modestly  by  parquetry  to  the  extent  of 
only  80. 

Of  the  seven  materials,  then,  which  show  any  prominence 
in  either  the  A  or  B  classes — beads,  clay,  the  sewing-card, 
the  tile  board,  parquetry,  blocks  and  the  first  gift — we  see 
that  the  second-year  children  lead  the  first  in  clay  and  the 
sewing-card,  and  the  first-year  children  lead  the  second  in 
beads,  the  tile  board  and  the  first-gift  strongly,  and  in  par- 
quetry and  blocks  very  slightly,  the  second-year  children, 
indeed,  showing  almost  no  interest  in  the  tileboard  or  the 
first  gift.  Clay  and  the  sewing-card,  then,  are  the  two 
things  especialy  which  keep  up  a  permanent  and  growing 
interest  into  the  second  year.  Of  minor  choices  the  second- 
year  children  lead  the  first  in  pencil  and  paper  and  scissors 
and  paper.  What  may  be  done  in  developing  more  interest 
in  these  materials  is  awaiting  the  result  of  experience. 

The  fact  that  such  differences  do  appear  in  the  children  of 
the  different  years  of  the  kindergarten  shows  at  least  that  the 
kindergarten  child  is  not  at  a  standstill ;  that  he  is  in  the  pro- 
cess of  development  in  both  interests  and  ability.  There 
seem  to  be  certain  clearly  marked  stages  in  both  his  interests 
and  his  method  of  attack.  Let  me  suggest  these  in  a  general 
way,  basing  my  conclusions  not  only  on  the  mass  results  of 
figures,  but  on  general  observations  of  individual  children 
children  in  the  kindergarten.  The  child's  interest  at  first  lies 
in  physical  activity,  in  muscular  pleasure.  He  does  not  like 
to  sit  at  a  table  and  pretend  to  be  doing  something  with  some- 
thing— a  stupid  ocupation  for  an  active  child.  As  we  saw 
in  the  B  class  of  the  third  ward  kindergarten,  the  little  Span- 


KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS.  87 

ish  children,  representing  the  greatest  immaturity,  love  of  all 
things  to  play  with  the  balls.  They  take  them  out  into  the 
large  room  and  run  around  gaily  and  throw  and  roll  the 
balls.  This  natural  desire  for  physical  activity  is  too  often 
curbed  in  the  kindergarten,  and  the  entering  children  are  too 
often  prematurely  forced  into  being  little  models.  The  kin- 
dergarten is  turned  into  a  school  rather  than  a  child-garden. 

When  the  child  does  make  his  first  attack  on  the  material, 
whatever  it  is,  it  is  in  the  line  of  aimless  handling.  He  does 
not  do  anything  with  the  material,  he  does  not  know  what  he 
wants  to  do  with  it,  or  what  can  be  done  with  it.  But  he  is 
interested  to  handle,  to  touch,  to  feel,  and  if  the  object  is 
something  soft  or  pretty  and  bright  colored,  so  much  the  bet- 
ter. He  likes  to  handle  the  soft,  warm,  colored  ball,  or  he 
likes  to  finger  with  the  tileboard  or  the  lentils.  When  grad- 
ually he  settles  down  really  to  "do  something  with  some- 
thing," he  first  combines  muscular  pleasure  with  the  rudi- 
ments of  construction.  He  is  interested  in  the  doing  rather 
than  in  the  result  to  be  attained.  Now,  instead  of  handling 
aimlesly  or  indulging  in  mere  physical  exercise,  he  is  inter- 
ested in  the  acomplishing  (not  the  accomplishment)  of  some- 
thing. This  something  must  be  very  simple,  or  it  may,  in- 
deed, hardly  amount  to  anything  at  all.  The  child  likes  now, 
instead  of  merely  fingering  the  beads,  to  string  them  into  a 
necklace,  and  he  strings  and  strings  and  strings,  and  his 
soul  seems  to  find  satisfaction  in  mere  stringing;  or,  per- 
chance, it  finds  satisfaction,  when  he  deals  in  parquetry,  in 
mere  sticking,  or,  when  he  is  concerned  with  the  tileboard,  in 
mere  pegging.  But  string  and  stick  and  peg  he  must — in  lieu 
of  anything  better.  Meanwhile  along  with  this  doing,  he 
enjoys  pleasant  sensations  of  color  in  the  variegated  beads 
and  pegs  and  parquetry,  and  rudimentary  art-feeling  is- 
let us  trust — stirred. 

But  soon  the  child  passes  from  the  stage  of  mere  doing 
into  a  rapidly  developing  constructive  stage,  where  the  con- 
structive instinct  blossoms  as  under  an  April  shower,  and 
advances  from  baldest  simplicity  to  ever-growing  complex- 
ity. In  this  stage  clay  and  blocks  furnish  capable  material. 
Along  with  the  constructive  instinct  the  art  instinct  puts 


88  KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS. 

forth  a  few  more  feeble  shoots  and  parquetry-work  begins 
to  show  more  evidences  of  design,  of  symmetrical  arrange- 
ment, than  at  first.  With  the  feeling  of  beauty,  too,  grows 
its  counterpart,  the  feeling  of  use  and  permanency,  and  the 
sewing-card  attains  great  value  in  the  childish  eyes.  A  glance 
at  the  table  will  show  that  with  the  first-year  children  clay 
exceeded  the  sewing-card;  and  with  the  second-year  children 
the  sewing-card,  combining  beauty,  use  and  permanency,  ex- 
ceeded clay.  The  younger  children,  too,  in  most  of  their 
choices  are  influenced  by  the  momentary  pleasure  of  the 
handling,  or  the  playing,  or  the  doing.  Then  this  material 
is  cast  aside  and  the  next  day  they  have  forgotten  what  they 
did  the  day  before.  With  the  older  children  the  definitely 
constructive  interest  is  far  stronger,  and  also  the  love  of 
beauty  and  permanency.  One  of  the  chief  charms  of  the 
sewing-card  seems  to  be  that,  once  done,  it  is  "something 
pretty,"  as  the  children  here  always  call  it,  something  that  is 
more  satisfactory  to  their  dawning  self-consciousness  than 
their  own  crude  attempts  at  outline,  and,  moreover,  some- 
thing permanent.  The  younger  children,  as  I  have  already 
suggested,  handle  and  experiment  with  the  slats,  tablets, 
sticks,  rings,  lentils,  folding-paper,  etc.  The  novelty  or  the 
bright  color,  or  some  external  feature  attracts  them.  But 
soon  the  choice  becomes  based,  not  on  the  superficial  attrac- 
tions of  the  material  itself,  but  on  what  use  that  material  can  be 
put  to.  Use,  then,  with  the  older  children,  super  cedes  external 
attractiveness  as  a  basis  of  choice.  Clay,  for  example,  is  not 
so  pleasing  to  the  eye  as  the  gay  beads  or  the  festive  tileboard, 
but  it  can  be  used  more  variously,  can  be  made  into  an  infinite 
number  of  forms. 

The  question  of  use  brings  us  to  the  second  part  of  the  study, 
as  based  on  the  records. 

USE  OF  MATERIAL. 

The     spontaneous  use    of   the    materials    was     recorded 

under  the  following  heads:    No  Order,  or  Aimless;   Form 

Arrangement;   Color  Arrangement;  Design;   Representation. 

The  results  may  be  seen  in  Chart  II  which  follows.    The 


KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS.  89 

sewing-card,  which  furnishes  the  child  with  a  picture  or  design 
already  marked  out,  and  so  does  not  represent  spontaneous 
arrangement  on  his  part,  is  omitted  in  this  consideration,  and 
only  the  spontaneous  uses  of  the  other  materials  are  represented 
in  the  percentages. 

The  amount  of  aimless  play  with  the  first-year  children  is 
great,  36  per  cent,  while  this  decreases  to  18  per  cent  with  the 
second-year  children.  Of  the  purposeful  play,  with  both 
classes,  representation  leads;  then  follows  color  arrangement,  in 
which  the  first-year  children  are  slightly  more  interested  than 
the  second-year  children;  design  takes  a  third  place,  and  is  more 
prominent  with  the  second-year  children.  Form  arrangement, 
as,  for  example,  the  alternation  of  a  regular  number  of  cube 
beads  with  a  regular  number  of  ball  beads,  or  some  such  com- 
bination, is  decidedly  insignificant  in  both  classes.  It  is  evi- 
dent, then,  that  the  kindergarten  child's  spontaneous  self- 
activity  and  interest  are  toward  natural  and  life  forms  rather 
than  toward  forms  of  beauty  and  geometric  design,  although, 
clearly,  there  are  some  traces  of  the  art-instinct  in  this  latter 
line.  The  cruder  form  of  the  art-instinct,  as  seen  in  mere  color 
arangement,  is  somewhat  more  manifest.  Interest  in  concrete 
representation  far  outweighs  interest  in  abstract  form  and  de- 
sign arangement.  The  child  prefers  to  imitate  from  memory, 
with  delightful  freedom,  rather  than  confine  himself  to  the 
narrow  restraint  of  symmetrical  proportions. 

What  distribution  of  use  do  we  find  among  the  different 
materials  ?  The  aimless  play  is  largely  with  the  beads,  the  par- 
quetry and  the  tileboard  in  both  A  and  B  classes.  There  is 
almost  no  aimless  play  with  clay  or  blocks.  Color  arrangement 
pertains  largely  to  the  beads,  parquetry  and  tileboard;  with  the 
B  class  almost  entirely  to  the  beads,  while  with  the  A  class  more 
to  the  parquetry,  united  at  the  same  time  with  design.  Design 
is  found  almost  exclusively  with  the  parquetry,  and  to  some 
slight  extent  with  the  paper  and  scissors.  Clay  and  blocks  are 
practically  devoted  wholly  to  representation;  and  the  spirit 
of  representation  crops  out  also  in  some  degree  in  the  use  of 
the  tileboard,  as  far  as  its  limited  capability  will  permit,  and  of 
the  paper  and  scissors. 


9o 


KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS. 


i 

I 

I 
I 

e 
e 

a 

a 

i 


KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS.  91 

The  use,  then,  to  which  the  material  can  be  put,  we  now  see 
more  clearly,  determines  choice.  Much  of  the  undirected  play 
of  the  first-year  children  is  aimless — nearly  half  of  their  bead 
play,  over  half  of  their  parquetry  play,  four-fifths  of  their  tile- 
board  play,  and  nearly  all  of  their  play  with  the  minor  materials 
are  aimless — so  that  the  younger  children  are  not  concerned 
as  to  what  they  can  do  with  their  material,  but  choose  accord- 
ing to  the  glittering  attractions  of  the  various  materials  them- 
selves. Hence  they  dabble  in  a  greater  variety.  The  second- 
year  children  choose  material  far  more  largely  for  what  they 
can  do  with  it,  as  only  18  per  cent  of  their  work  is  aimless. 
Now  what  material,  of  all  those  which  are  open  to  spontaneous 
exercise  on  the  part  of  the  children,  is  most  susceptible  to  hand- 
ling, most  plastic,  most  capable  of  assuming  a  great  variety 
of  forms,  most  tempting  to  the  constructive  instinct?  Clay. 
Clay  is  infinitely  more  pliable,  more  adaptable  than  blocks. 
With  blocks  only  houses,  trains,  etc.,  can  be  made,  but  with 
clay,  everything  under  the  sun.  Clay,  too,  has  its  advantages 
over  pencil  and  paper,  or  paper  and  scissors,  for  its  representa- 
tions are  not  flat,  but  are  realistic,  of  three  proportions.  So 
much  for  clay  from  the  standpoint  of  the  child's  interest.  The 
superiority  of  clay  work  in  giving  exercise  and  plasticity  to  the 
hand  and  fingers,  with  no  possibility  of  the  pencil-cramp  should 
give  it  an  important  place  in  the  kindergarten  curriculum  from 
the  standpoint  of  physical  development,  if  nothing  else. 

A  few  sex  differences  may  be  noticed.  These  are  not  strik- 
ing. The  kindergarten  boy  and  girl  are  not  differentiated  to 
any  great  extent.  Looking  at  the  more  popular  materials,  we 
find  that  about  the  same  proportion  of  boys  and  girls  choose 
parquetry,  the  girls  exceeding  the  boys  somewhat  in  the  B 
classes;  that  the  girls  lead  the  boys  decidedly  in  choice  of  the 
sewing-card,  though  the  boys  show  a  very  strong  interest  in 
the  sewing-card,  and  also  they  lead  with  the  beads,  the  boys 
having  but  small  interest  in  these;  while  in  the  use  of  the  clay 
and  blocks  the  boys  exceed  the  girls,  though  the  interest  is  very 
strong  with  the  girls.  Shall  we  say  that  the  girls  are  more 
interested  in  pretty  effects,  as  shown  in  the  sewing-card,  and 
that  they  are  less  original,  spontaneous,  initiative,  while  the 
boys  are  more  independent,  more  actively  constructive?  We 


92  KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS. 

find  at  least  only  the  germs  of  these  differences  in  the  kinder- 
garten. 

REPRESENTATION. 

To  find  the  trend  of  the  children's  interest  in  the  line  of 
representation,  the  following  chart  (III)  was  made,  showing 
what  was  represented,  whether  the  human  form,  animal  forms, 
things,  or  story-illustration. 

In  both  classes  the  representation  of  objects  exceeds  that 
of  the  human  form  or  of  animals.  This  is  due  largely  to  the  fact 
that  clay  is  the  chief  material  used,  and  ease  of  representation 
plays  an  important  part.  With  the  pencil  the  human  form  pre- 
dominates, as  all  studies  on  children's  drawings  likewise  show. 
But  the  interesting  revelation  in  these  representations  lies  in 
the  great  variety  of  forms  with  which  these  young  artists  are 
familiar.  The  first-year  children  represented  eleven  different 
kinds  of  animals — rabbits,  dogs,  chickens,  fish,  birds,  turtles, 
cats,  bears,  bugs,  pigeons  and  horses.  The  second-year  chil- 
dren represented  all  these  and  added  monkeys,  ducks,  donkeys, 
foxes,  parrots,  pigs,  snakes,  mice,  butterflies,  elephants,  making 
twenty-one  different  kinds.  The  first-year  children  represented 
eighty  different  kinds  of  objects;  the  second-year  children  over 
ninety  different  kinds.  The  following  are  a  list  of  the  objects 
represented  by  the  children,  and  give  some  index  to  the  range 
of  their  thought:  Santa  Barbara  Mission,  houses,  churches, 
castles,  towers,  Spanish  houses,  chicken-coops,  barns,  wind- 
mills, boats,  sailboats,  bridges,  tunnels,  reservoirs,  water-tanks, 
car-lines,  electric  cars,  trains,  engines,  yards,  corrals,  gar- 
dens, fences,  gates,  wagons,  buggies,  wagon  wheels,  dump- 
carts,  rafts;  of  objects  about  the  home — chairs,  rocking- 
chairs,  high-chairs,  tables,  stools,  couches,  sofas,  windows,  pic- 
ture frames,  pictures,  beds,  cradles,  baby  buggies,  bath-tubs, 
stoves,  pails,  dishes,  bottles,  glasses,  pans,  flatirons,  bells,  oi1- 
tanks,  candles,  candle-sticks,  matches  match-cases,  baskets, 
lanterns,  water-pipes,  ladders,  step-ladders,  rakes,  boxes,  bird- 
cages, saddles,  tools,  hooks,  planes,  hatchets,  table-cloths,  nap- 
kins, thimbles,  spools  of  thread;  of  personal  things — 
hats,  caps,  capes,  collars,  neckties,  shawls,  rings,  chairs,  fans, 
hair-brushes,  pipes;  of  playthings — kites,  fire-crackers,  marbles, 


KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS. 


93 


I      > 


a 


•w 


94  KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS. 

bicycles,  sleds,  guns,  scrap-books,  doll-buggies,  dolls'  handker- 
chiefs, swings,  balls;  of  things  to  eat — candy,  puddings,  tomales, 
tortillas,  bread,  pies,  mush,  cake,  doughnuts,  cookies,  pan- 
cakes; of  nature  objects — sticks,  mushrooms,  trees,  flowers, 
apples,  birds'  nests,  birds'  eggs,  rattlesnake  holes,  smoke;  mis- 
cellaneous— numbers,  letters,  fairies,  money,  own  hands. 

Of  course  all  the  children  do  not  make  all  these  things,  but 
there  is  a  marvelous  opportunity  for  learning  through  imita- 
tion and  through  hearing  others  call  the  names  of  the  objects 
they  have  made. 

The  older  children  show  an  increased  complexity  in  their 
representations.  The  younger  children  make  simple,  single 
objects  generally  in  their  modeling,  while  the  older  children 
make  more  combinations,  although  these  are  very  elementary, 
such  as  birds  in  the  nest,  bear  on  a  hill,  monkey  climbing  a 
stick,  hen  sitting  on  eggs,  horse  and  wagon,  with  man  in  the 
wagon,  baby  in  buggy,  man  in  boat,  children  holding  parasols, 
boy  in  bath-tub,  etc.  The  older  children,  it  will  be  seen  from 
the  chart,  are  most  interested,  too,  in  illustrating  the  stories 
they  have  been  told.  The  following  stories  were  illustrated 
spontaneously :  "The  Sun  and  the  Wind,"  "Old  Mother  Hub- 
bard,"  "Squirrel  Song,"  "The  Crow  and  the  Fox,"  "Bre'r 
Rabbit,"  "The  Little  Pine  Tree,"  "Clytie,"  song,  "Once  I  Got 
into  a  Boat,"  "Jack  and  the  Candle-Stick,"  and  a  number  of 
stories  of  the  children's  own  make.  Through  their  represen- 
tations the  children  certainly  reveal  their  store  of  knowledge 
and  the  direction  of  their  interests.  When  we  ponder  on  the 
freedom  and  variety  shown  in  the  spontaneous  activity,  we  pity 
the  poor,  little,  starved,  straight-laced  mortals  who  are 
restricted  to  the  paltry  pabulum  of  the  dictation  exercises. 
And  when  we  see  each  happy  child  working  out  his  own  ideas 
and  realizing  his  own  inner  self,  we  pity  the  class-bound  chil- 
dren who  are  obliged  each  to  do  what  his  neighbor  does,  arid 
all  what  the  dictation  of  one  pronounces.  The  simple  dicta- 
tion exercise  doubtless  has  a  place,  but  not  the  adoration  given 
it  by  many  kindergartens.  Only  by  bringing  free  activity  to 
the  front,  and  giving  it  its  rightfully  large  share,  can  the  intui- 
tions of  Froebel  be  realized  and  the  index-finger  of  modern 
scientific  child-study  be  heeded. 


f  UN 


UNI, 
KINDERGARTEN  MATERIALS.  95 


A  few  closing  words  as  to  the  value  of  the  test.  To  the 
teacher  it  is  a  wonderful  revelation  of  the  mental  status  of  each 
child,  what  his  interests  are,  what  his  range  of  thought  is, 
what  he  is  able  to  do,  how  he  progresses  in  power.  To  every 
kindergartner,  even  if  she  were  not  interested  in  mass  results, 
it  would  be  a  valuable  experiment,  acting  as  a  mirror  of  truth, 
in  which  she  might  see  each  individual  child  reflected,  in  which 
she  might  best  survey  the  new  children  as  they  enter  her  class, 
in  which  she  might  measure  their  development  as  it  is  pictured 
therein.  But  aside  from  the  service  to  the  kindergartner,  the 
free-choice  hour  is  of  great  educational  value  to  the  children. 
Though  no  longer  keeping  a  strict  record,  the(  kindergartners 
of  Santa  Barbara  are  enthusiastic  about  keeping  up  this  hour 
for  its  effect  on  the  children.  During  no  other  hour  of  the 
day  is  there  such  close  absorption  in  their  play,  such  deep  inter- 
est, such  concentration,  such  unconsciousness  of  the  doings  of 
the  other  children.  This  is  the  hour  when  each  child  is  most 
thoroughly  bent  on  self-expression,  on  spontaneous  doing,  on 
self-activity. 

Now,  to  sum  up  the  mass  results  of  this  study,  we  may  reca- 
pitulate the  following  general  conclusions : 

1.  The  younger  children  divide  their  interest  among  some 
variety  of  material,  but  the  two  materials  which  especially  grow 
in  interest  and  become  strikingly  predominant  in  the   second 
year  are  clay  and  the  sewing-card,  while  many  of  the  tradi- 
tional kindergarten  materials — sticks,  slats,  rings,  lentils,  tab- 
lets, etc. — are  practically  a  dead- weight 

2.  The  children  at  first  choose  chiefly  from  the  attractiveness 
of  the  material  itself,  but  later  discriminate  according  to  what 
use  can  be  made  of  the  material. 

3.  The  use  the  child  is  most  largely  interested  in  is  spon- 
taneous representation  of  living  and  natural  forms,  of  the  ob- 
jects that  he  knows,  and  his  interest  in  design,  while  capable 
of  some  development,  is  very  primitive  at  this  age. 

4.  The  child  is  capable  of  most  concentrated  work  when  he 
is  engaged  in  that  which  interests  him  individually,  when  he 
is  free  to  realize,  under  proper  incentive,  his  own  self -activity— 
the  highest  end  to  be  sought,  according  to  Froebel. 

CAROLINE  FREAR  BURK. 


The  Love  of  Nature. 

Our  kindergartens  have  not  done  any  systematic  work  in 
nature  lines  the  past  year,  not  because  we  have  not  realized 
that  herein  lies  the  soul  and  origin  of  the  primal  instincts  of 
man,  but  because  conditions  for  the  greater  part  of  the  year 
have  been  unfavorable.  The  following  papers  represent  spo- 
radic efforts  in  two  or  three  of  the  kindergartens.  Since  these 
were  written,  however,  outside  gardens  have  been  started  in 
all  of  the  yards,  through  the  generous  assistance  of  the  ladies 
of  the  Kindergarten  Association,  and  the  personal  activity  of 
Trustee  C.  A.  Edwards,  and,  while  nothing  much  can  be  done 
in  the  closing  weeks  of  the  present  year,  nevertheless  garden 
life  and  interests  will  doubtless  in  another  year  become  a  feature 
of  the  daily  occupations  of  the  children.  Few  cities  in  America 
are  so  providentially  favored  by  climate,  wood,  hill  and  ocean 
as  Santa  Barbara,  and  here  it  is  to  be  hoped  a  return  can  be 
made  to  Froebel's  child-garden,  in  a  literal  open-air  sense. 


I  began  nature  work,  not  so  much  for  the  idea  of  study,  but 
to  foster  the  children's  love  for  all  living  creatures.  This  I 
have  done  by  means  of  pets,  and  through  this  love  observation 
and  investigation  have  developed  spontaneously.  Believing 
that  children  love  best  the  things  dependent  upon  them  for 
their  care,  the  pets  were  left  for  them  to  feed. 

In  one  corner  of  the  yard,  in  a  roomy  wire  pen,  was  kept  a 
pretty  white  rabbit,  which  was  fed  every  day  by  eager  hands. 
A  very  interesting  sight  it  was,  to  see  a  half-dozen  little  faces 
pressed  up  against  the  wire  netting,  watching  the  bunny  nibble 
away  on  the  crisp  leaves  provided  for  him.  They  found  out 
what  food  he  liked  best,  and  were  very  curious  to  know  why 


LOVE  OF  NATURE.  97 

he  wouldn't  eat  meat  like  their  kitty  at  home.  They  noticed 
that  the  rabbit  hopped  instead  of  ran,  and  very  naturally  they 
examined  its  little  legs  and  were  soon  satisfied.  Then  came  the 
questions  as  to  why  it  had  such  long  ears,  and  "wasn't  it 
funny  that  the  bunny  could  move  his  ears  back  and  forth?" 
Not  content  with  watching  the  rabbit  move  his  ears,  they  tried 
to  move  their  own  ears.  Their  interest  was  shown  not  only 
on  the  playground,  but  during  their  free-drawing  period  and 
clay-modeling.  It  was  no  uncommon  sight  to  see  a  mamma 
rabbit  with  baby  rabbits,  modeled  from  their  clay,  or  drawn 
on  the  board. 

After  the  bunny  met  with  an  untimely  end,  we  next  obtained 
a  pair  of  birds.  These  were  kept  in  a  large  cage,  four  by 
three  by  six,  so  as  to  give  them  perfect  freedom  in  using  their 
wings,  and  in  hopping  about.  The  birds  depended  also  on  the 
children  for  their  daily  food.  Here,  again,  was  shown  obser- 
vation. Birds  were  cut  from  paper,  birds  were  drawn  on  the 
board  and  on  paper,  were  modeled  from  clay,  and  even  out- 
lined with  sticks.  The  bird  games  and  songs  took  a  new 
meaning  to  them,  and  I  am  sure  they  felt,  when  flying  around 
the  room,  that  they  flew  just  as  gracefully  as  did  the  birds. 
They  had  often  been  shown  the  difference  between  the  flying  of 
birds  and  that  of  butterflies,  now  with  the  birds  and  a  live  but- 
terfly in  the  room,  they  saw  for  themselves  and  understood  far 
better.  Then  the  nest-building!  One  could  never  conceive 
of  where  the  different  bits  of  colored  string  came  from,  which 
were  showered  upon  the  birds  by  wee  hands.  They  all  felt 
that  they  then  owned  an  interest  in  that  nest.  Their  nest  was 
compared  with  other  nests,  and  I  am  sure  we  were  all  proud 
and  happy  when  it  was  pronounced  far  to  excel  any  of  the 
others.  After  the  completion  of  the  nest,  the  children  fully 
expected  the  eggs,  and  they  were  not  disappointed.  First  one 
little  blue  egg,  then  another,  and  another,  and  another,  until 
there  was  a  nest  of  five.  With  what  interest  those  eggs  were 
watched!  The  mother  bird  no  sooner  left  her  nest,  then  up 
would  rush  a  little  investigator  to  see  if  the  eggs  were  all 
there,  and  what  indignant  stories  were  told  us,  of  how  some 
bad  boy  had  robbed  a  poor  little  bird's  nest,  and  how  "we 
never  would  do  such  a  thing !" 


98  LOVE  OF  NATURE. 

After  anxious  waiting  of  two  weeks,  the  children  were  re- 
warded one  morning  by  seeing  one  little  featherless  bird,  which 
was  pronounced  "a  very  curious  specimen,"  and  "not  one  bit 
like  a  little  bird."  For  a  week  we  hardly  got  any  other  result 
from  the  free  drawing  and  modeling  than  birds.  There  were 
birds'  nests,  birds'  eggs,  little  birds,  big  birds  and  medium- 
sized  birds.  Some  were  of  a  very  peculiar  shape,  but  the  two 
legs  and  head  were  always  there,  and,  to  the  child,  were  an 
excellent  resemblance  to  his  birdship. 

Besides  the  birds  in  the  schoolroom,  there  were  three  white 
mice  in  a  very  convenient  two-story  house,  made  of  a  large 
box,  with  a  wire  netting  over  the  front  and  back  of  it,  thus 
allowing  the  children  to  observe  them.  Then,  on  the  shelf 
in  a  large  glass  globe,  dwells  a  gold  fish.  There  are  also  tran- 
sient visitors,  consisting  of  stray  dogs  or  cats,  etc.  One  day 
a  little  girl  came  to  school  with  a  turtle  tied  to  the  end  of  a 
string.  This  was  kept,  as  a  visitor,  for  two  or  three  days  and 
then  turned  loose,  as  the  children  said,  "so  it  could  go  home." 
The  white  mice  are  loved  very  dearly  by  the  children,  and  often 
some  one's  lunch  is  shared  with  them.  The  children  love  to 
hold  and  pet  them,  and  I  notice  that  they  get  more  real  com- 
fort from  the  pets  they  can  fondle. 

The  fish  is  one  of  the  best  objects  for  observation.  It  is 
easily  seen  through  the  globe,  while  it  is  at  rest  and  when  in 
mption.  It  is  one  of  the  objects  which  the  children  are  not 
satisfied  with  only  watching,  but  they  want  to  talk  about  it. 
They  want  to  know  about  the  "little  wings,"  why  it  moves  its 
tail  back  and  forth,  how  it  can  live  under  water,  and  they 
exclaim,  "Why !  it  keeps  its  eyes  wide  open  even  when  it  is  way 
down  in  the  water." 

After  the  fish  had  put  in  an  appearance  at  school,  one  little 
boy  came  to  school  one  morning  with  a  little  fish  very  care- 
fully wrapped  up  in  a  piece  of  paper.  This  fish  he  had  obtained 
from  a  fish  man,  and  had  brought  to  school  for  us  to  study. 

By  the  information  the  children  give  us,  in  regard  to  the 
different  animals,  their  interest  evidently  does  not  end  at  12 
o'clock,  and  many  are  the  questions,  no  doubt,  put  to  parents 
or  companions  during  their  walks  or  drives. 

ALICE  L.  BLACKFORD. 


LOVE  OF  NATURE.  99 

II. 

Our  pretty,  sunshiny  kindergarten  room,  being  blest  with 
a  long  shelf  placed  under  a  row  of  windows,  is  brightened  by 
the  presence  of  a  number  of  plants,  mostly  ferns.  But  those 
most  treasured  by  the  children  are  plants  which  they  have 
brought  from  their  home  gardens,  and  a  small  crop  of  beans 
and  barley,  which  have  known  only  the  kindergarten  as  a 
home. 

The  deepest  interest  has  been  shown  in  the  bean  plants  from 
the  first  tiny  leaves  to  the  ripening  of  the  bean  pods,  each  child 
being  anxious  to  be  the  first  to  discover  a  new  pod.  As  soon 
as  the  pods  ripen  one  will  be  laid  aside  for  a  future  bean  crop, 
and  the  others  will  furnish  material  for  a  bean  party. 

Another  object  lesson  in  nature's  law  of  growth  has  proved 
most  interesting  to  teachers  as  well  as  children.  Barley  was 
planted  in  two  pieces  of  cotton  placed  at  the  top  of  two  glass 
jars  filled  with  water.  Then  one  jar  was  placed  in  the  sun- 
shine and  one  in  the  dark,  where  for  a  time  no  difference  was 
noticed.  But  after  a  week's  vacation  great  was  the  children's 
surprise  at  the  growth  of  the  barley  leaves  in  each  jar,  for  both 
were  of  the  same  height,  but  one  was  a  healthy  green,  while 
the  other  was  almost  white.  Immediately  the  children  said 
the  white  leaves  didn't  have  any  sunshine,  and  one  little  boy 
concluded  that  children  needed  plenty  of  sunshine  to  make 
them  healthy,  as  well  as  the  plants. 

But  one  morning,  when  asked  if  they  would  like  to  have 
their  own  gardens  around  the  kindergarten  building,  the  bright- 
ening of  faces  and  the  excited  confusion  of  tongues  talking 
of  gardens  at  home,  and  what  they  would  plant,  told  how  wel- 
come gardens  would  be.  Consequently  gardens  were  prepared, 
and  the  children  were  soon  busy  planting  seeds  and  plants.  We 
can  not  help  but  feel  that  as  each  one  plans,  plants,  sows,  and 
cares  for  his  garden,  many  a  lesson  from  nature  is  uncon- 
sciously learned,  and  many  a  lesson  in  responsibility  and  care 
is  gained. 

ANNETTE  UNDERWOOD. 


ioo  LOVE   OF  NATURE. 

III. 

My  children  have  taken  a  great  many  walks,  and  they  are 
very  fond  of  them.  Once,  when  we  went  to  the  beach,  the 
children  took  off  their  shoes  and  stockings  and  waded  in  the 
water,  going  in  just  a  little  way  so  that  the  water  touched  their 
feet.  Then  we  all  sat  in  an  old  boat  that  was  on  the  beach 
and  watched  the  water  come  up  to  us.  The  tide  was  high,  and 
there  were  large  breakers,  which  the  children  noticed. 

Two  or  three  times  we  have  been  to  a  pond  that  is  only  a 
few  blocks  from  the  kindergarten.  Here,  the  children  like  to 
throw  stones  into  the  water,  calling  to  me  to  see  what  a  big 
splash  they  make.  The  children  are  anxious  for  me  to  see  each 
stone  that  they  throw. 

Another  time  we  went  to  the  hills  on  the  other  side  of  the 
kindergarten.  Here  the  children  ran  races  down  the  hill,  all 
starting  together  to  see  who  would  get  to  the  bottom  first. 
They,  however,  did  not  seeem  to  notice  who  got  there  first, 
but  all  started  up  to  do  it  over  again.  On  this  same  walk  we 
came  to  a  bank  by  the  road,  left  after  grading  the  street.  Here 
they  wanted  to  stop  and  jump  from  the  embankment. 

We  have  visited  the  other  kindergartens  a  number  of  times, 
and,  although  they  have  enjoyed  watching  the  other  children 
and  playing  with  them,  still  they  were  frightened,  and  nearly 
always  some  one  has  cried. 

On  the  walks  the  children  notice  almost  every  little  thing. 
They  see  the  flowers,  and  want  to  gather  them  for  me,  although 
they  are  in  some  stranger's  yard.  The  boys  especially  notice 
all  the  old  machinery  that  is  lying  about,  and  want  to  watch 
any  man  that  is  working  on  the  street,  especially  if  he  is  dig- 
ging a  hole  in  the  ground.  The  children  are  also  very  anxious 
for  me  to  walk  past  their  houses,  and  then  they  run  in  to  call 
their  mothers  to  see  me,  and,  if  there  is  a  baby,  they  have  it 
brought  out  tor  us  all  to  look  at  it.  On  their  walks  they  talk 
'til  the  time,  whereas  in  the  house  the  same  ones  are  peculiarly 
silent.  They  point  out  every  thing  to  me,  and  if  I  don't  under- 
stand the  Spai.ish  word,  there  is  always  some  child  who  helps 
us  out,  while  in  the  kindergarten  I  often  can  not  get  one  to 
tell  me  what  another  child  has  said  m  Spanish.  As  they  are 


LOVE   OF  NATURE.  101 

so  ready  to  talk  when  on  a  walk,  it  gives  me  an  opportunity 
to  teach  them  the  English  word.  I  think  one  reason  they 
enjoy  the  walks  is  because  I  am  interested  in  all  they  see, 
whereas,  if  their  mothers  went  with  them,  they  would  be  in 
a  hurry,  or  on  some  errand,  and  would  not  take  the  time  to 
listen  to  them. 

Lately  the  children  have  asked  to  take  the  dolls  with  them 
on  the  walks.  They  carry  the  dolls  as  carefully  as  can  be  all 
the  way.  Sometimes  the  doll  is  carried  between  two  children, 
each  taking  one  arm. 

FANNIE  S.  REED, 


IV. 

It  seems  to  me  that  of  the  walks  which  my  class  and  I  have 
taken,  the  most  successful  were  those  for  the  purpose  of  visit- 
ing absent  children.  In  this  way  the  Spanish  children  realize 
more  fully  that  they  are  wanted,  and  that  they  are  missed  when 
the>  do  not  attend. 

A  walk  which  the  children  seemed  to  enjoy,  and  from  which 
they  learned  a  great  deal,  was  one  to  the  beach.  On  that  occa- 
sion we  saw  guinea  fowls,  which  a  great  many  had  never  be- 
fore seen.  After  we  reached  the  beach  we  built  houses  in  the 
sand,  and  gathered  moss  and  pretty  stones.  The  moss  we 
floated  on  cards,  and  some  was  taken  home.  The  stones  we 
used  for  number  lessons,  and  also  in  sand  to  make  walls,  fences, 
mark  off  drives,  and  to  finish  off  mountains.  At  the  beach  we 
talked  about  boats,  sang  a  few  boat  songs,  etc.  The  children 
found  a  dead  duck,  which  was  very  interesting,  and  the  web 
feet  were  examined  very  closely.  Live  ducks  were  seen  on  the 
water,  and  the  swimming  process  observed. 

Another  walk  was  to  a  slough.  On  the  way  the  children 
saw  tules  growing  in  water,  and  thought  them  very  peculiar. 

They  were  taught  to  make  willow  whistles,  as  the  willow 
trees  were  at  their  prime  then.  We  came  to  a  garden  of  arti- 
chokes, and,  as  the  wind  was  blowing,  the  little  balloons  were 
flying  in  every  direction.  I  then  told  the  story  of  dandelion, 


102  LOVE   OF  NATURE. 

•-md  pointed  out  nature's  provision  for  distributing  seed.  We 
took  some  of  the  balloons  back  to  school,  and  one  pupil  told 
those  who  had  remained  what  they  had  seen,  and  showed  how 
the  balloons  were  carried  through  the  air  by  the  wind. 

Eucalyptus  cones  were  also  gathered.  A  few  days  later  the 
cones  began  to  dry.  The  seed  fell  out,  affording  a  good  lesson 
in  nature's  treasure-boxes.  Some  of  the  children  began  then 
to  bring  all  kinds  of  treasure-boxes  to  show.  When  we 
reached  the  slough  we  found  it  inhabited  by  flocks  of  little 
birds.  Some  of  the  children  who  brought  lunches  threw 
crumbs  to  them.  We  were  all  very  quiet,  and  the  birds  grew 
very  bold,  coming  within  two  or  three  feet  of  us  to  eat.  This 
pleased  the  children  immensely. 

Ev ALINE  ROSE  SEXTON. 


Counting  and  Number. 

The  tendency  in  children  to  count  finds  its  origin,  probably, 
in  musical  rhythm,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  mathematics. 
As  such,  counting  is  a  naming  of  rhythms,  and  this  instinct 
appears  very  early  in  education.  The  process  in  the  early 
stages  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  counting  of  objects.  Chil- 
dren as  a  rule  readily  learn  to  count  to  twenty  or  more  long 
before  they  can  tell  how  many  fingers  they  have.  Nevertheless, 
the  counting  of  objects  possesses  an  early  interest  for  children, 
but  we  must  clearly  distinguish  this  interest  from  any  concep- 
tion of  number  relations.  Abstract  number  relations  certainly 
do  not  appeal  to  the  child  until  a  late  period — far  later  than 
the  period  when  the  subject  is  usually  forced  into  the  schools, 
and  in  introducing  counting  in  rhythms  and  counting  of  ob- 
jects into  the  kindergarten,  we  must  ask  that  no  confusion  be 
made  between  this  class  of  work  and  that  which  is  entered  upon 
in  the  school.  Children  possess  a  ready  and  responsive  inter- 
est for  the  former,  and  for  arranging  objects  in  numbered 
groups.  This  class  of  work,  in  which  the  object  is  always 
present,  forms  a  natural  and  useful  preparation  for  the  de- 
mands of  the  school.  If  the  same  kind  of  number  work  were 
continued  in  the  school  for  two  or  three  years,  before  abstract 
relations  were  touched,  our  pupils  would  doubtless  make  better 
progress  in  arithmetic. 


PRACTICAL  METHODS. 

When  the  kindergartens  opened  in  August  I  had  a  class  with 
twenty-five  pupils  on  the  roll,  and  an  average  daily  attendance 


104  COUNTING  AND  NUMBER. 

of  twenty.  All  were  of  foreign  parentage,  mostly  Spanish  and 
Italian,  with  some  French  and  Chinese.  A  small  number  could 
understand  and  speak  a  few  words  of  English,  but  their  knowl- 
edge was  so  slight  it  was  of  little  help.  I  began  to  teach  num- 
ber with  language.  First  I  procured  a  large  box,  and  rilled  it 
with  articles  of  every  description  that  could  be  used  in  number 
work — balls,  scissors,  dolls,  blocks,  sticks,  bells,  buttons,  etc. 
I  would  have  the  children  name  these  articles,  as  "one  bell," 
"two  balls/'  "three  dolls,"  etc.  At  odd  moments  I  would  step 
to  the  board  and  draw  some  one  of  the  above-named  arti- 
cles, and  have  the  children  tell  how  many  there  were.  In  this 
way  they  soon  learned  enough  English  to  have  quite  a  variety 
of  words  in  their  number  work. 

THE  FIRST  GIFT  BALLS.  I  would  hold  up  different  groups 
of  balls  of  the  same  color,  asking  individual  children  to  tell 
how  many  they  saw,  and  the  color.  Or  I  would  hold  up  the 
same  group  in  different  colors,  asking  the  same  questions.  In 
this  way  simple  addition  was  introduced,  as,  "two  red  balls 
and  one  yellow  ball  make  three  balls,"  etc.  After  a  lesson  of 
this  kind  for  a  few  minutes  we  would  have  free  play.  I  some- 
times go  to  the  children  separately,  blindfold  their  eyes,  and 
have  them  feel  different  groups  and  tell  me  how  many  balls 
there  are.  If  they  cannot  tell,  I  let  them  open  their  eyes  and 
count.  As  another  variety  I  sometimes  bounce  the  ball,  and 
call  on  some  child  to  count  aloud  the  number  of  times  the  ball 
strikes.  Later  all  count  to  themselves.  I  never  allow  the 
pupils  to  answer  in  concert,  for  by  experience  I  soon  learned 
that  one  or  two  were  doing  all  the  answering,  and  the  others 
were  simply  guessing  or  saying  nothing  at  all. 

SECOND  GIFT  BEADS.  With  these  I  always  give  one  form 
of  two  colors,  as  red  and  yellow,  violet  and  orange;  or,  two 
forms  of  the  same  color,  as  cubes  and  balls,  or  cubes  and 
cylinders;  otherwise  it  is  confusing  to  the  child.  With  two 
colors,  I  first  have  the  children  string  the  beads  one  and  one; 
then  two  and  two;  three  and  three,  etc.;  or,  again,  one  and 
two;  one  and  three,  etc.  After  a  lesson  of  this  kind  we  paste 
parquetry  on  a  card  to  take  home,  using  the  same  number  of 
discs  as  the  groups  they  strung.  Thus  this  number  is  empha- 
sized as  far  as  possible. 


COUNTING  AND  NUMBER.  105 

NUMBER  CARDS.  These  are  made  by  taking  pieces  of  card- 
board, about  six  by  eight  inches,  and  pasting  parquetry  on 
them  in  certain  small  groups.  I  have  made  several  cards  of 
this  kind,  with  groups  of  two,  three,  four,  five,  etc.,  each  group 
in  the  same  color.  The  children  may  help  make  these  by  tak- 
ing the  desired  number  to  arrange  and  paste  on  the  card.  I 
hold  up  a  card  before  them  and  say :  "John,  draw  on  the  board 
the  number  of  balls  you  see,"  "Nellie,  get  me  the  same  num- 
ber of  balls  out  of  the  box,"  "Marie,  hold  up  as  many  fingers," 
"Pedro,  tell  me  how  many,"  "Louis,  what  color  are  they?" 
At  other  times  several  are  sent  to  the  board,  each  being  shown 
a  different  card,  and  are  asked  to  put  the  same  number  of  circles 
upon  the  board.  Similarly  they  make  balls  in  the  sand-box. 
Then,  again,  they  are  given  paper,  marked  off  in  squares,  and 
they  copy  the  cards  in  the  squares  as  fast  as  they  are  shown 
to  them.  Or,  they  are  given  tablets  of  the  same  size  as  the 
parquetry,  and  they  make  new  cards.  This  work  is  very  excit- 
ing, and  the  children  enjoy  it;  however,  we  never  have  it  longer 
than  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  at  a  time.  Sometimes  several  chil- 
dren are  asked  how  many  circles  or  squares  they  see  on  the 
same  card.  Very  often  the  answer  is  incorrect.  I  then  show 
the  card  again,  and  we  count  aloud,  and  they  soon  learn  not 
to  guess. 

The  third,  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  gifts  are  about  the  best 
material  in  the  kindergarten  with  which  to  teach  number  indi- 
vidually, and,  as  a  great  deal  of  my  work  must  be  individual, 
I  have  perhaps  used  these  more  than  any  other.  Sometimes 
the  four  gifts  are  combined,  arranged  in  groups  as  dictated, 
twos,  threes,  fours,  etc.  Then  I  go  around  with  a  basket  and 
tell  each  child  to  put  in  so  many,  calling  for  a  new  number 
from  each  pupil.  Next,  I  ask  each  to  take  out  a  stated  num- 
ber. As  another  variety  of  method,  I  go  to  each  child,  and 
have  him  group  and  count,  close  his  eyes  and  feel  groups,  and 
tell  how  many.  Or  I  hold  up  the  groups  and  have  him  answer 
at  a  glance,  etc. 

STICKS.  I  think  these  might  be  put  to  excellent  use  in  some 
kindergartens,  but  with  the  Spanish  children  I  have  had  no 
success.  The  sticks  break  too  easily,  and  the  children  love  to 
break  them. 


io6  COUNTING  AND  NUMBER. 

A  very  interesting  lesson,  for  a  variety,  is  in  the  use 
of  sounds.  The  children  enjoy  this  for  a  short  time.  I  use 
a  small  hammer  and  a  horseshoe,  or  a  call  bell,  striking  or 
ringing  a  certain  number  of  times,  and  asking  the  children  to 
count  the  strokes.  I  found  it  better  at  first,  however,  to  call 
upon  some  child  to  count  aloud,  because  if  the  children  counted 
to  themselves  they  so  often  disagreed.  After  a  few  lessons 
they  learned  to  do  very  well  counting  to  themselves.  At  other 
times  I  call  on  individual  children  to  strike  as  many  times  as 
dictated.  They  are  allowed  to  toot  like  trains  a  given  number 
of  times. 

In  our  kindergarten  we  have  a  generous  supply  of  button 
molds,  which  have  proved  invaluable  for  number  work.  We 
also  use  articles  brought  by  the  children,  such  as  shells,  euca- 
lyptus cones,  beans,  peas,  seed  pods,  pebbles,  etc.  The  chil- 
dren seem  to  take  more  interest  if  their  own  articles  are  used. 
These  articles  are  given  in  generous  quantities  to  each  child,  and 
arranged  in  groups,  as  in  the  case  of  the  blocks.  Then  I  draw 
with  chalk  on  their  tables  what  we  call  a  ladder.  On  the  first 
round  we  place  one  button,  shell,  or  whatever  it  may  be;  on 
the  second,  two;  on  the  third,  three,  etc.  Again,  the  children 
are  given  little  trays  of  wet  sand,  marked  off  in  the  same  way, 
and  they  stick  tooth  picks  in  groups  of  a  dictated  number. 

I  tried  teaching  number  by  songs,  such  as,  "Five  little  chick- 
adees sitting  on  a  door,  One  flew  away,  and  then  there  were 
four,"  or,  "Six  little  children  standing  in  a  row."  But  it 
proved  very  unsuccessful — why,  I  am  not  sure.  Sometimes 
I  feel  as  if  it  were  my  fault,  sometimes  the  children's,  prob- 
ably a  little  of  both.  I  know  some  teachers  have  done  well  with 
the  same  songs.  In  the  first  place,  it  seems  difficult  for  the 
pupil  to  remember  what  comes  next,  how  many  had  gone,  and 
how  many  were  left,  etc. 

When  the  pupils  seem  tired,  or  restless,  I  send  them  to  the 
board,  and  give  each  something  different,  as  far  as  possible, 
to  draw;  for  example,  John  draws  four  boys;  Louis,  three  girls; 
Jennie,  five  tops,  etc.  Very  often,  before  school,  I  will  go  to 
the  blackboard  and  draw  it  full  of  groups  of  articles  of  every 
description,  and  leave  them  there  for  the  children  to  look  at 
whenever  their  eyes  happen  to  turn  that  way.  Then  I  take  a 


COUNTING   AND   NUMBER.  107 

paper  large  enough  to  cover  any  group,  point  to  it,  then  cover, 
saying,  "John,  what  did  you  see?"  He  replies,  "Four  dolls," 
"Five  bells,"  or  whatever  else  it  may  be.  Sometimes  groups 
of  balls,  colored  and  uncolored,  or  squares,  are  made  and  used 
in  the  same  way.  I  have  never  tried  to  have  the  children  recog- 
nize a  group  of  more  than  five  at  a  glance.  However,  a  few 
can  count  twenty  objects  correctly. 

EVALINE  ROSE  SEXTON. 


Moral  Education. 

Morals,  in  the  kindergarten,  have  to  do,  not  with  those 
abstract  spiritualities — goodness,  wickedness,  cruelty,  justice, 
honesty — but  with  concrete  instances.  The  child  can  not  have 
adequate  conception  of  such  products,  except  by  experience 
and  comparison.  The  kindergarten  has  to  do  with  concrete 
physical  actions  in  a  strictly  concrete  sense.  We  name  for  the 
child,  as  occasion  brings  them  concretely  before  him,  this  act 
as  bad,  that  act  as  good;  this  act  as  cruel,  that  as  merciful; 
this  act  as  generous,  that  as  mean;  this  as  unjust,  that  as  just. 
And  these  are  the  child's  first  lessons  in  the  theory  of  morality. 
Ar  first,  all  actions  have  practically  no  moral  quality  for  him. 
We  name  them  for  him,  and  affix  our  approbation  or  disappro- 
bation so  that  he  may  later  recognize  them.  This  process 
must  be  accomplished  before  the  child  can  have  an  appercep- 
tive  basis  for  such  abstractions  as  goodness  in  general,  cruelty 
in  general,  justice  in  general,  generosity  in  general,  etc.  The 
period  for  the  pedagogic  treatment  of  these  abstractions  is  the 
adolescent  period.  The  kindergarten  problem  of  morals  is 
more  of  a  physical  one,  having  to  deal  with  concrete  actions, 
cropping  out  largely  in  children's  social  plays  and  games.  The 
fundamental  error  of  the  orthodox  kindergarten,  as  has  already 
been  repeatedly  illustrated,  is  its  attempt  to  forestall  the  period 
of  natural  ripening  by  forcing  immaturely  the  development 
of  conceptions  which  belong  to  the  later  periods,  and  by  neg- 
lecting to  cultivate  instincts  which  legitimately  belong  to  the 
kindergarten  ages.  Moral  education  passes  through  stages. 
Two  phases  appear  in  the  kindergarten  period:  First, 
that  of  infancy  and  early  childhood,  when  the  child  sees 
no  distinction  between  "what  is  right"  and  "what  I  want." 
The  second  stage  begins  when,  confused  by  the  fact 
that  he  fails  to  establish  the  identity  of  the  two,  he  falls  back 


MORAL    TRAINING.  109 

and  accepts  an  authority  to  determine  the  right  and  the  wrong. 
Right  then  becomes  "what  mamma  permits/'  and  wrong  is 
"what  mamma  forbids."  The  child  enters  the  kindergarten 
at  the  beginning  of  the  second  phase,  and  the  social  life  into 
which  he  is  thrust  serves  as  an  admirable  school  of  experience. 
His  "want"  is  in  continual  conflict  with  others'  "wants."  It  is 
the  old  struggle  of  the  race,  by  which  our  modern  ethical  prin- 
ciples have  been  evolved.  The  child  must  retrace  the  path 
at  least  hastily.  His  intercourse  should  be  as  free  as  posible, 
for  these  experiences,  though  some  may  be  hard  knocks,  con- 
stitute the  elements  out  of  which  moral  abstractions  are  made. 
As  these  moral  experiences  occur,  he  learns  in  a  practical  way 
their  names.  He  learns  that  this  particular  act  is  a  dishonest 
one,  this  a  cowardly  one.  that  a  brave  one,  etc.  But  by  the 
middle  of  the  kindergarten  period  he  generally  has  learned 
that  this  moral  problem  is  a  perplexing  one,  and  readily  enough 
accepts  the  fact  that  his  mother,  or  his  kindergart- 
ner,  seems  somehow  to  have  figured  out  the  matter.  He  at 
least  recognizes  their  authority,  and  takes  it  as  a  matter  of 
course  that  right  is  what  they  permit,  and  wrong  that  which 
they  forbid.  Studies  abundantly  establish  the  point  that  chil- 
dren, until  ten  or  twelve,  unquestionably  accept  this  simple 
philosophy  of  the  whole  matter.  From  this  standpoint,  there 
is  no  place  for  the  attempts  we  so  often  observe  to  induce 
the  child  to  see  logical  reasons  for  justice,  or  to  appeal  to  a 
suppositions  sense  of  right  and  wrong.  He  has  as  yet  no  such 
abstract  sense.  He  is  in  no  mood  to  bother  with  these  abstrac- 
tions; he  is  now  merely  taking  in  a  stock  of  samples  of  the 
acts  which  the  world  calls  bad  or  good. 

Further,  at  this  epoch  there  is  no  reason,  either  in  theory 
or  in  practice,  which  forbids  the  establishment  of  a  prompt 
and  unquestioning  obedience.  There  is  no  need  to  give  rea- 
sons for  obedience,  for  the  child  instinctively  feels  none.  His 
philosophy  is  yet  altogether  too  simple.  The  time,  it  is  true, 
will  come  in  later  life,  when  he  has  taken  in  his  stock  of  con- 
crete cases,  that  he  will  fall  to  comparing  them  one  with 
another.  Then  the  parent,  as  the  moral  autocrat,  is  dethroned, 
and  a  sense  of  right,  as  an  abstraction  from  his  many  con- 
crete cases,  enters  upon  him.  But  with  this  period  the  kinder- 


i  io  MORAL    TRAINING. 

gartner  has  nothing  to  do.  While  it  is  not  necessary  to  thrust 
the  child  into  a  bad  environment — discretionary  judgment  is 
always  essential — still,  it  is  necessary  for  the  child  to  meet 
and  grapple  with  wrongs  as  well  as  rights,  not  as  a  philoso- 
pher, but  as  a  quicksilver  globule  gathering  up  the  golden 
grains  of  moral  experience.  The  parent,  or  the  kindergartner, 
must  be  ever  by  him,  to  tell  him  what  is  wrong  and  what  is 
right,  briefly  and  to  the  point,  and  to  see  that  he  always  does 
the  right  thing,  and  does  it  promptly,  to  the  end  that  the  right 
thing  may  be  imbedded  as  a  habit  in  his  spinal  cord.  The 
philosophy,  or  the  grammar,  of  morals  belongs  to  a  later  stage 
of  development,  as  all  kinds  of  grammar  properly  do,  and  the 
grammar  of  morals  is  as  much  out  of  place  in  the  kindergarten 
as  the  grammar  of  language.  The  child  must  learn  to  act 
correctly,  and  to  speak  correctly,  before  he  takes  up  the  whys 
and  wherefores. 

All  social  plays  introduce  moral  education,  but  it  would 
seem  that  some  plays  would  be  more  suitable  for  this  purpose 
than  others.  The  field  to  which  natural  play  here  opens  the 
door  for  the  intelligent  kindergartner  is  an  immense  one,  and 
as  yet  has  scarcely  been  entered.  It  seems  strange  that  doll 
play,  for  example,  has  never  been  utilized  by  the  kindergarten 
as  moral  material.  The  study  on  doll  play,  by  President  G. 
Stanley  Hall  and  Dr.  Ellis,  shows  that  it  is  practically  a  uni- 
versal instinct,  whose  nascency  begins  in  the  kindergarten 
period,  and  that  in  playing  with  dolls  children  execute  more 
altruistic  acts  than  in  any  other  play.  The  altruism  may  be 
merely  mimic,  and  be  without  much  thought  or  feeling,  but 
this  is  the  natural  starting  point.  Children  set  a  moral  exam- 
ple to  their  dolls,  learn  information  that  they  may  impart  it 
to  their  dolls,  act  the  autocrat  in  telling  the  dolls  what  is  right 
and  what  is  wrong,  mete  out  punishment,  sympathize,  forgive, 
suffer  privation  for  the  doll's  sake,  and  do  other  acts  of  equal 
moral  import.  Why  should  not  the  curriculum  contain  a 
lesson  on  morals  through  doll  play? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

i.  Earl  Barnes:  Discipline.  Studies  in  Education,  Nos.  i -8, 
July,  1896 — Apr.,  1897. 


MORAL    TRAINING.  in 

2.  Earl  Barnes :    Punishment  as  Seen  by  Children.     Peda- 
gogical Seninary,  vol.  3,  No.  2;  Pacific  Educational  Journal; 
Proc.  N.  E.  A.,  1893. 

3.  Earl  Barnes :  Corporal  Punishment  as  a  Means  of  Social 
Control.    Education,  Mar.,  1898. 

4.  G.  Stanley  Hall :   The  Moral  and  Religious  Training  of 
Children  and  Adolescents.     Pedagogical  Seminary,  vol.  I,  pp. 
196-210. 

5.  G.  Stanley  Hall.     Moral  Education  and  Will-Training. 
Pedagogical  Seminary,  vol.  II,  p.  72. 

6.  Margaret  Schallenberger :   Children's  Rights  as  Seen  by 
Themselves.    Pedagogical  Seminary,  vol.  Ill,  p.  87. 

7.  Estelle  M.  Darrah:    Children's  Attitude   Toward   Law. 
Studies  in  Education,  Nos.  6  and  7,  Dec.,  1896;  Jan.,  1897. 

8.  Caroline  Frear:    Class  Punishment.     Studies  in  Educa- 
tion, No.  9,  Mar.,  1897. 

9.  David  S.  Snedden :  Children's  Attitude  Toward  Punish- 
ment for  Weak  Time-Sense.     Studies  in  Education,  vol.  9, 
March,  1897. 

10.  Compayre:    L'Evolution    Intellectuelle   et   Morale   de 
L'Enfant.     Paris,  1896 

12.  Cesare  Lombroso:    L'Homme  Criminal.     Paris,  1895. 

12.  Cesare  Lombroso:  L'Homme  Criminel.     Paris,   1895. 
Pedagogy.    Monist,  vol.  VI,  p.  50. 

13.  W.  D.  Morrison:   Juvenile  Offenders.     D.  Appleton  & 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  1897. 

14.  A.  C.  Ellis  and  G.  S.  Hall :  A  Study  of  Dolls.  Pedagog- 
ical Seminary,  Dec.,  1896. 

FREDERIC   BURK. 


Kindergartners"  Diaries. 

Each  kindergartner  has  kept  for  the  greater  part  of  the  year 
a  diary  of  her  methods  for  reference  in  the  weekly  reports  to 
the  supervisor.  The  diaries  furnish  a  birds-eye  glimpse  of  the 
children's  life  in  the  kindergarten.  A  few  extracts,  within 
the  limits  of  possible  space,  are  here  inserted.  It  should  be 
explained  that  the  writers  of  the  extracts  given  had  no  notion, 
at  the  time  of  writing,  of  their  publication. 

I. 

MONDAY,  FEBRUARY  27,  1899  :  After  my  class  came  into 
my  room,  the  first  period  we  had  the  story  and  the  illustration. 
Each  morning,  before  I  tell  my  story,  I  ask  the  children  if 
they  have  a  story  to  tell  me.  About  a  half  a  dozen  of  the 
children  had  seen  the  bear  that  is  around,  and  they  had  a 
great  deal  to  tell  about  the  wonderful  things  that  he  did.  After 
each  one  had  had  a  chance  to  talk,  I  told  them  a  fable,  "The 
Arit  and  the  Dove/'  which  they  liked  very  much.  I  had  them 
illustrate  with  pencil  this  morning,  although  they  usually  go 
to  the  board.  Sometimes  I  use  the  brush  and  water  colors, 
but  many  of  the  children  choose  pencil  in  preference.  I  notice 
that  they  do  not  go  into  detail  so  much  with  the  brush  as  with 
the  pencil. 

The  development  in  drawing  is  very  interesting  to 
watch;  one  new  little  girl,  who  for  the  first  few  days  would 
not  draw  because  she  couldn't,  now  seems  to  enjoy  it  as  much 
as  the  others.  I  try  to  go  to  each  child  and  have  them  tell  me 
the  story  his  pictures  tell,  and,  with  few  exceptions,  the  chil- 
dren talk  readily  and  enjoy  telling  the  story  from  the  pictures. 

After  recess  I  have  a  number  lesson,  and  this  morning  used 
beads  and  uncolored  tablets.  I  had  each  child  select  the  one 


KINDERGARTNERS'  DIARIES.  113 

color  in  beads  that  he  preferred,  then  had  a  lesson  in  group- 
ing, using  the  beads  and  square  tablets.  All  the  children  can 
count  ten  objects,  and  at  least  half,  if  not  more,  can  count  to 
forty,  for  each  morning  we  have  some  child  count  the  beads, 
and  we  usually  have  between  forty  and  fifty  present.  In 
grouping  I  do  not  go  above  ten ;  many  of  the  children  can  make 
groups  to  ten  (some  of  the  newer  ones  have  not  gotten  be- 
yond six).  After  about  a  twenty-minute  number  lesson  I 
passed  the  scrap  books  and  single  pictures,  which  they  always 
enjoy,  and  find  a  great  deal  to  talk  about.  On  finding  a  pic- 
ture of  Santa  Claus,  Anita,  a  very  musical  child,  began  to 
sing  "Jolly  Old  St.  Nicholas."  Lorena  found  a  picture  of 
some  bells,  and  sat  there,  singing,  "Ring,  Ring,  Xmas  Bells." 
Margery  found  a  picture  of  a  fox  and  a  goose,  and  held  it  up 
and  said  it  was  the  picture  of  a  story  I  once  told  them.  The 
ridiculous  pictures  appeal  to  Winfield,  and  he  will  sit  and 
laugh  all  to  himself  at  a  comical  picture  of  cats  dressed  up, 
or  Brownies  in  their  comical  costumes  and  attitudes. 

After  recess  we  usually  sing  a  little  while.  I  let  the  children 
select  the  songs,  and  find  that  "Jolly  Old  St.  Nicholas"  and 
"Once  I  Got  into  a  Boat"  are  called  for  every  day.  I  find 
they  are  specially  fond  of  the  songs  that  have  motion  or 
action  in  them.  We  sing  one  about  the  barnyard,  where  the 
different  animals  are  represented,  which  they  are  very  fond 
of.  After  singing,  they  had  free  play  with  the  blocks,  of 
which  they  do  not  seem  to  tire.  By  the  blocks,  I  refer  to  the 
third,  fourth  and  fifth  gifts,  which  we  have  taken  out  of  the 
boxes  and  put  all  together.  With  the  blocks  I  gave  each  one  a 
second  gift  cube,  or  cylinder,  and  it  was  interesting  to  watch 
the  different  ways  in  which  these  were  used.  Several  used  the 
large  cube  for  the  main  part  of  a  house  or  church,  and  then 
built  towers,  etc.,  on  top  and  around,  and  made  some  wonder- 
ful buildings.  The  symmetry  of  the  buildings  is  quite  remark- 
able. I  think.  Several  of  the  boys  made  trains,  and  left  the 
large  cube  on  the  back  of  the  table  untouched.  All  the  chil- 
clien  build,  and  really  enjoy  it.  One  little  girl  did  not  build 
for  the  first  few  days,  but  just  sat  and  watched  the  others.  I 
let  her  alone,  and  wondered  what  she  would  do  later.  Now 
she  never  leaves  her  material  untouched,  but  enjoys  it  quite  as 


ii4  KINDERGARTNERS'  DIARIES. 

much  as  the  others;  however,  I  have  observed  that  she  has 
not  much  originality.  No  doubt  this  is  a  case  of  imitation. 

TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY  28 :  This  morning  I  told  the  story  of 
"The  Ugly  Duckling,"  which  the  children  enjoyed  very  much. 
I  never  had  a  class  where  all  seemed  to  enjoy  a  story  as  they  do 
•in  this  class.  After  the  story  this  morning,  Daisy  said,  "Oh, 
tell  us  another."  Just  after  telling  the  story  Mrs.  Rice  came 
In  to  sing  with  the  children,  so  I  did  not  have  time  to  let  them 
illustrate  it,  but  later  we  had  clay,  and  they  made  the  story  in 
clay. 

After  recess,  in  the  number  lesson,  I  used  sticks,  and  we 
bad  a  game  for  a  change.  I  had  each  child  place  ten  sticks 
in  a  row  on  the  back  of  the  table,  then  asked  them  to  listen 
and  do  as  the  story,  which  I  was  to  tell,  said.  I  then  repeated 
from  "Mother  Goose"  the  rhyme  about  "Ten  little  boys  stand- 
ing in  a  line,  One  went  home,  then  there  were  nine,"  etc.,  each 
time  the  children  taking  one  stick  away.  After  taking  away 
the  stick  I  had  them  count  and  find  out  for  themselves  how 
man}  were  left.  Then,  starting  with  one,  we  went  to  ten  again. 
The  children  were  delighted,  and  felt  it  was  only  a  game,  but 
I  considered  it  quite  an  instructive  little  lesson.  The  books 
and  pictures  were  then  passed  for  a  few  minutes,  and  the  chil- 
dren found  pictures  of  ducks  and  swans,  and  spoke  of  them 
being  like  the  story  I  told  in  the  morning. 

After  recess  we  had  clay,  which  they  always  enjoy.  Many 
times  I  do  not  suggest,  but  to-day  I  suggested  making  the 
story,  and  some  made  remarkable  ducks  and  swans.  Carol, 
a  new  little  boy,  but  quite  an  exceptional  child  in  drawing  and 
modeling,  made  the  mother  duck  and  the  babies  and  the  swan, 
all  very  good  representations.  He  made  one  duck  where  it 
was  walking  and  where  the  feet  showed,  and  one  where  it 
was  swimming,  with  its  wings  slightly  spread.  I  find  that 
twenty  minutes  are  long  enough  with  the  clay,  for  during  that 
time  the  children  enjoy  and  make  something,  but,  longer  than 
that,  some  of  the  children  use  it  in  an  aimless  sort  of  way. 
I  always  try  to  take  it  away  just  before  they  tire  of  it. 

WEDNESDAY,  MARCH  i :  Asking  the  children  for  a  story 
tliis  morning,  I  found  that  two  had  stories,  which  they  told 
very  nicely  to  the  rest  of  the  children.  Instead  of  telling  a 


KINDERGARTNERS'  DIARIES.  115 

story  myself,  I  gave  each  child  a  pencil  and  paper,  and  asked 
him  to  draw  some  story  that  he  had  heard  me  tell,  and  I  went 
around  fo  each  one  and  tried  to  guess  what  the  story  was.  This 
was  a  specially  interesting  experiment,  and  in  all  but  about 
three  cases  I  guessed  the  story  immediately. 

In  the  number  lesson  we  used  acorns,  shells  and  chilicotes, 
all  of  which  the  children  have  collected  from  time  to  time.  I 
put  some  in  each  basket,  had  them  passed,  then  asked  the  chil- 
dren to  place  them  in  a  row  and  whisper  to  me  as  I  carne 
around  how  many  they  had.  All  but  four  counted  correctly. 
I  then  asked  them  to  place  the  objects  in  twos  and  threes,  alter- 
nating, then  threes  and  fours.  After  the  number  lesson  they 
looked  at  pictures  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  we  had  a  little 
color  lesson  in  the  form  of  a  game.  I  chose  six  colors  of  the 
first  gift  balls  and  placed  them  on  a  table.  One  child  at  a  time 
would  close  his  eyes ;  I  would  take  away  one  ball,  and  on  open- 
ing his  eyes  the  child  would  guess  what  color  was  gone.  I 
do  not  have  a  color  lesson  every  day,  for  these  older  children 
are  very  familiar  with  the  colors.  (I  have  discovered  that  one 
little  boy  in  the  class  is  color  blind.) 

After  recess  I  had  all  the  materials  in  the  kindergarten 
placed  on  a  table,  and  we  played  store.  Each  child  was  given 
a  round  tablet  for  a  piece  of  money,  and  in  turn  came  to  me 
and  bought  the  material  preferred,  and  used  it  without  sug- 
gestion from  me.  Three  chose  dolls,  one  boy  and  two  girls: 
three  boys  chose  first  gift  balls;  three  chose  brushes  and  paint; 
four  chose  colored  pencils;  four  chose  beads  and  strings;  four 
chose  blocks.  The  two  girls  who  chose  dolls  rocked  them  and 
played  with  them,  but  the  boy  tired  of  his  very  quickly.  The 
other  children  used  the  material  they  had  bought  and  enjoyed 
it.  After  the  materials  were  put  away  there  were  a  few  min- 
utes left,  and  I  asked  the  children  to  look  all  around  and  then 
choose  the  picture  in  our  room  they  thought  was  the  prettiest. 
I  went  to  each  one  individually  and  had  him  whisper  the  choice. 
Six  chose  "Birth  of  the  American  Flag/'  four  chose  the  "Yard 
of  Roses";  four,  the  "Violets";  two,  the  "Kittens";  one,  the 
"Snow  Scene";  one,  the  "Autumn  Scene";  one,  the  picture 
of  a  little  girl,  and  one,  the  picture  of  a  group  of  children  at  a 
picnic. 


n6  KINDERGARTNERS'  DIARIES. 

THURSDAY,  MARCH  2:  For  the  first  period  I  exchanged 
classes  with  Miss  Harrison  and  told  her  class  the  fable  about 
"The  Lion  and  the  Mouse."  They  enjoyed  it  very  much,  and 
retold  it  to  her  very  nicely. 

After  recess,  for  the  number  lesson  I  used  second  gift  beads. 
I  gave  each  child  a  basket  with  the  colored  beads,  and  asked 
him  to  select  the  two  colors  he  liked  best  and  place  them  in 
another  basket.  After  the  beads  were  assorted  I  asked  the 
children  to  make  sevens  for  me,  making  one  seven  of  one  color 
and  the  next  of  the  other  color.  Some  of  the  new  children  did 
not  know  seven,  so  I  asked  them  to  make  smaller  groups.  After 
placing  the  beads  in  groups  on  the  table  they  asked  for  a 
string,  and  each  child  strung  the  beads  in  the  same  way  in 
which  they  were  placed  on  the  table.  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  for  some  of  my  children  the  assorting  of  color  with  the 
beads  and  grouping  are  too  much  for  one  lesson,  so  usually  I 
assort  the  beads  myself  and  give  just  the  two  colors  to  each 
child. 

After  recess  we  had  some  singing,  which  the  children  always 
enjoy,  and  then  the  picture  books  were  passed.  The  animal 
picture  book  is  a  great  favorite  with  the  boys,  and  one  or  two 
ask  specially  for  it  each  day.  In  looking  at  the  books  I  find 
they  go  more  slowly  than  at  first,  and  really  seem  to  study  the 
pictures.  While  looking  at  the  pictures  they  talk  a  great  deal 
about  them,  call  each  other's  attention  to  certain  pictures, 
and  are  always  calling  me  to  see  something  they  have  found. 
Often  I  make  up  a  story  about  some  picture  to  which  they 
call  my  attention,  and  they  listen  very  eagerly  to  anything  in 
the  form  of  a  story.  After  the  books  were  put  away,  I  had 
paper  and  scissors  passed  for  free-hand  cutting,  and  asked 
each  one  to  cut  something  he  or  she  had  seen  in  the  picture 
books.  I  did  not  feel  that  there  was  much  originality  dis- 
played in  the  cutting  to-day.  Several  cut  things  which  they 
called  tigers,  lions,  etc.,  which  they  had  seen  in  the  pictures, 
but  there  was  very  little  likeness  to  the  animal.  Anita  cut  a 
wonderful  Mission,  cutting  the  arches,  cross,  etc.  She  seems 
to  have  a  special  fondness  for  the  Mission,  for  she  has  cut  it 
before. 

FRIDAY,  MARCH  3 :   This  morning  I  asked  for  a  story,  and 


KINDERGARTNERS'  DIARIES.  117 

Olive  told  a  comical  one  about  a  little  boy  and  his  dream  con- 
cerning a  mosquito.  This  is  the  first  time  this  little  girl  has 
ever  volunteered  to  tell  anything  in  the  form  of  a  story,  and 
she  has  been  in  the  class  since  the  first  of  the  year.  In  our 
room  is  a  very  pretty  picture  of  "Little  Bo- Peep/'  and  we  have 
a  toy  lamb  in  the  kindergarten,  so,  referring  to  these  two,  I 
repeated  the  "Mother  Goose"  rhyme  of  "Little  Bo-Peep."  They 
all  knew  the  first  part,  but  the  last  part,  where  the  sheep  come 
home  without  their  tails,  and  where  little  Bo-Peep  finds  them 
all  hung  on  a  tree,  was  new  to  them,  and  they  laughed  and 
enjoyed  it  very  much.  I  did  not  say  anything  about  the 
number  of  sheep,  but  asked  some  of  the  children  how  many 
they  thought  she  had.  Some  said  two,  others  three  and  four, 
and  one  child  seemed  quite  positive  that  she  only  had  one. 
Their  drawings  were  very  amusing.  They  drew  Bo-Peep 
with  her  crook,  drew  the  sheep  with  tails,  then  without,  and 
then  made  the  tree  with  the  tails  hanging  upon  it. 

In  the  number  lesson  we  used  sticks.  I  gave  each  child  a 
basket  with  uncolored  sticks,  together  with  the  color  he  asked 
for.  I  had  assorted  the  sticks,  and  asked  each  one  to  tell  me 
the  color  he  preferred.  I  find  they  always  have  a  preference 
in  color,  and  I  like  to  let  them  make  their  own  choice.  I  had 
them  group  them  in  this  way — one  uncolored,  two  colored, 
three  uncolored,  four  Colored,  five  uncolored.  I  did  not  make 
anything  of  color,  never  do  in  a  number  lesson,  but  like  to 
use  the  contrast  in  grouping,  for  the  groups  are  more  distinc- 
tive where  two  colors  are  used. 

After  the  number  lesson  the  books  were  passed  for  about 
five  minutes.  Nearly  every  day  some  child  brings  a  book 
from  home,  and  the  rest  of  the  children  always  enjoy  looking 
at  the  new  books.  They  do  not  seem  to  tire  of  the  same  pic- 
ture books,  for  they  receive  them  just  as  eagerly  as  ever.  Out 
collection  of  bird  pictures  some  one  always  asks  for.  I  am 
convinced  that  the  colored  pictures  always  appeal  to  the  chil- 
dren. To-day  I  gave  several  a  new  book,  with  colored  and 
uncolored  pictures,  and  every  time  they  came  to  a  colored  pic- 
ture they  called  me  over  to  see  it ;  the  uncolored  ones  evidently 
did  not  impress  them.  After  recess  we  played  store  again, 
and  the  children  had  free  choice  and  free  use  of  materials. 


nS  .   KINDERGARTNERS'  DIARIES, 

To-day  the  beads,  blocks,  dolls,  first  gift  and  rings  were  chosen. 
Seven  children  made  the  same  choice  to-day  as  before. 
I  have  only  tried  this  experiment  twice,  but  it  is  very  interest- 
ing, and  the  children  enjoy  it  immensely. 

Two  children  chose  the  dolls,  a  boy  and  a  girl.  Four  chose 
the  first  gift  balls.  They  rolled  them,  bounced  them  on  the 
table  and  threw  them  up  and  caught  them.  I  do  not  think 
the  first  gift  will  be  chosen  much,  for  there  is  so  little  that 
a  child  can  do  with  it  at  the  table.  Two  chose  rings;  they 
played  with  them,  but  did  not  seem  to  do  anything  special 
with  them.  With  the  rings  only  conventional  figures  can  be 
made,  and  I  am  positive  these  do  not  appeal  to  children,  for 
I  have  observed  that  they  rarely  make  them  of  their  own 
accord.  Mabel  found  she  could  spin  a  ring,  so  for  a  time 
seemed  to  enjoy  that.  Six  chose  blocks;  three  of  these  had 
made  the  same  choice  before.  They  always  put  the  blocks  to 
good  use,  and  never  seem  to  tire  of  building.  I  find,  too,  that 
they  like  the  odd  shapes,  triangles,  oblongs,  etc.,  and  Winfield 
in  buying  to-day  said,  "Don't  give  me  too  many  cubes,  I  like 
the  other  kinds."  Five  chose  second  gift  beads  and  strings. 
They  always  ask  for  a  string  with  beads,  and  to-day  two 
strung  them  in  regard  to  color  or  number,  but  the  others  put 
them  on  regardless  of  either;  the  aim  seemed  to  be  to  fill  the 
string.  The  two  who  chose  the  tile  boards  filled  them  with  pegs 
(regardless  of  color),  and  Carol  held  his  up  and  played  he  was 
reading  a  newspaper,  much  to  the  amusement  of  those  about 
him.  After  the  materials  were  put  away  there  was  a  little 
time  left,  so  we  sang  some  of  the  favorite  songs. 

My  observations  during  this  period  of  free  choice  and  free 
use  of  materials  have  been  very  interesting  and  very  instruc- 
tive, for  I  feel  that  in  this  way  we  find  out  what  the  children's 
interests  really  are,  and  can  better  direct  them. 

GERTRUDE  M.  DIEHL. 


II. 

MONDAY  :    The  morning  being  pleasant,  we  had  our  march- 


KINDERGARTNERS'  DIARIES.  119 

Ing  and  singing  out  doors.  One  child  was  chosen  captain, 
the  others  following  where  he  led.  There  was  single  file 
marching,  double  file  marching,  straight  line  marching,  curved 
line  marching,  slow  marching,  fast  marching,  and  every  other 
kind  of  marching  that  could  be  thought  of  by  one  little  brain. 
After  the  marching  came  free-choice  singing,  the  children 
volunteering  their  favorite  songs. 

At  9:30  they  all  marched  into  the  school  room,  and  at  the 
signal  from  the  piano  took  their  seats  and  sat  waiting  for  the 
usual  morning  story.  This  morning  the  story  was  of  "The 
Wolf  and  the  Crane."  As  the  children  had  seen  the  pictures 
of  both  a  wolf  and  a  crane  among  their  collection  of  colored 
pictures,  they  thought  that  those  were  surely  the  originals  of 
the  story.  After  the  telling  of  the  story,  the  children  were 
asked  to  illustrate  it  on  paper.  After  the  illustrations  they  were 
given  five  minutes  for  free  drawing  at  the  board. 

From  10:05  to  10:25  recess  was  given.  As  usual,  the  foot- 
ball took  a  prominent  place  in  the  games,  as  did  also  sand- 
building,  swinging,  and  jumping. 

From  10:25  to  ii  :3O  was  occupied  in  marching  to  the  seats 
and  resting,  the  piano  being  played  very  softly,  while  all  the 
little  heads  rested  on  the  tables. 

From  10:30  to  10:50  was  devoted  to  color  work,  the  chil- 
dren placing  on  a  string  first  all  beads  of  one  color;  next, 
beads  of  another  color,  and  so  on  until  all  six  colors  were  used. 
This  they  all  did  very  readily,  with  the  exception  of  one  little 
boy,  who  is  apparently  color-blind. 

From  10:50  to  10:55  the  children  were  allowed  to  look  at 
a  collection  of  scrap  books  which  had  been  given  them  and  to 
converse  freely  about  them. 

1 1 105  to  1 1 125,  recess. 

ii  :25  to  ii  :30,  marching  to  seats  and  resting. 

1 1 :3O  to  ii  :5O,  free  play  with  any  of  the  kindergarten  ma- 
terial which  each  individual  chose. 

1 1 :5o  to  12,  they  put  away  the  material  and  sang  the  closing 
song. 

TUESDAY:  The  school  opened  with  free  marchings,  after 
which  the  children  sang  chosen  songs. 

At  9:30  the  children  took  their  seats,  when  the  story    of 


120  KINDERGARTNERS*  DIARIES. 

"The  Dog  and  the  Bone"  was  told  them.  Then  they  illustrated 
the  story  on  paper  and  told  it.  Before  the  hour  closed  five 
minutes  were  devoted  to  circle  drawing  on  the  board,  using  the 
free-arm  movement. 

10:05  to  IO:25>  recess. 

The  day  was  foggy,  so  the  greater  number  of  the  little  girls 
stayed  inside  and  played  house,  while  the  majority  of  the  little 
boys  and  girls  on  the  ground  enjoyed  climbing  upon  the  fence 
and  jumping  down  into  the  sand.  A  few  of  the  boys  played 
football,  and  two  little  girls  played  with  the  swings. 

10:25  to  10:30,  they  marched  to  seats  and  rested.  (This 
rest  period  seems  very  beneficial,  as  with  very  little  exception 
the  children  seem  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  it. ) 

10 :3O  to  10 :5O,  number  lesson.  I  gave  them  a  piece  of  clay, 
then,  drawing  three  circles  on  the  board,  told  them  to  make 
that  number  of  marbles.  After  the  lesson  they  were  permitted 
to  make  anything  they  wished  from  the  clay. 

10:50  to  ii  :O5,  a  collection  of  bird  pictures  was  looked  at 
and  talked  about.  The  pictures  had  been  put  away  for  several 
days,  consequently  were  enjoyed  more  than  usual. 

I  :O5  to  ii  :25,  recess.  Again  the  fence  climbing  and  jump- 
ing were  indulged  in  to  a  great  extent. 

1 1 :25  to  1 1 :3O,  marching  and  rest. 

ii  :3O  to  ii  :5O,  free  play. 

It  is  quite  noticeable  that  in  the  advanced  class  sewing  is  the 
choice,  while,  in  the  small  class,  clay  and  beads  are  selected. 

ALICE  L.  BLACKFORD. 


III. 

We  opened  with  the  songs,  "Father,  We  Thank  Thee," 
"Anvil  Chorus,"  "Sleep,  Baby,  Sleep."  These  three  were  sug- 
gested by  myself,  but  others  were  called  for,  and  several  that 
time  would  not  permit  were  postponed  until  later  in  the  morn- 
ing, as  follows,  "Pickaninny,"  "Old  Black  Joe,"  "Once  I  Got 
into  a  Boat,"  "Over  the  River."  For  the  benefit  of  monotones 
I  gave  a  few  moments  drill  on  tones  representing  a  car  whistle, 


KINDERGARTNERS'  DIARIES.  121 

and  pitched  them  in  upper  tones,  gradually  descending.  I 
asked  for  a  list  of  memory  stories,  and  held  the  interest  for 
ten  minutes  with  "Dog  in  the  Manger,"  "Jack  Horner,"  "The 
Little  Chinese  Boy,"  "Goldilocks  and  Grandma." 

The  children  then  marched  to  the  board,  and  I  asked  them 
to  draw  any  story  they  could  remember.  Some  stories  were 
drawn  which  were  told  at  the  beginning  of  the  term — "Little 
Bo-Peep,"  "Little  Red  Hen,"  "Mother  Hubbard,"  "Bre'r  Fox 
and  the  Rabbit,"  "Hen  and  Snake's  Nest,"  "Goldilocks,"  "Five 
Peas  in  a  Pod."  Then  they  went  to  their  seats  and  I  gave 
them  paper  and  crayon,  and  asked  them  to  draw  ten  circles. 
All  of  the  A  class  made  them  readily,  and  many  of  the  B  class; 
only  those  who  entered  later  in  the  term  did  not  know  ten. 
For  ten  minutes  they  illustrated  memory  stories.  Five  min- 
utes were  devoted  to  looking  at  picture  books,  and  then  it  was 
time  for  morning  recess.  After  recess  we  had  five  minutes 
rest  period,  and  at  the  close  a  little  girl  was  asked  to  sing  "Lit- 
tle Drops  of  Water."  The  A  class  now  had  ten  minutes  of 
number  work.  I  took  eight  two-inch  cylinders  and  placed 
them  in  a  row,  asking  the  class  to  tell  the  number.  Afterward 
I  gave  a  few  tests  in  counting  instantly  by  removing  a  number 
while  their  eyes  were  closed.  They  recognized  six  readily 
without  counting.  Then  they  had  free  play  with  the  blocks 
and  I  gave  eucalyptus  cups  to  the  B  class.  After  clearing  their 
tables,  we  went  to  the  board  for  five  minutes  to  draw  large 
double  circles  with  both  hands.  A  general  demand  to  play 
Blind  Man's  Buff  arose,  and  we  had  a  ten-minute  game  before 
the  second  recess.  After  the  recess  and  rest  period,  followed 
a  song.  Next  we  had  the  store.  The  children  whispered  to 
me  what  they  wished  to  purchase,  and  the  following  goods  were 
ordered :  Six  wanted  blocks ;  these  are  in  the  A  class  and  they 
built  large  stores,  houses,  barns  and  reservoirs.  Four  chose 
sewing-cards  (no  boys).  One  little  B-class  girl  wanted  beads, 
and  one  paints ;  six  B-class  children  chose  clay.  The  free-play 
period  lasted  half  an  hour,  and  then  all  the  children  put  the 
material  away  under  the  direction  of  two  store-keepers  selected 
from  the  A  class.  We  closed  with  the  "Good  Bye  Song"  at 
the  table. 

TUESDAY,  APRIL  25 :    We  opened  by  repeating  "Father, 


122  KINDERGARTNERS'  DIARIES. 

We  Thank  Thee/'  and  sang  the  song,  "Now  Before  We  Work 
To-Day."  The  A  class  chose  the  songs  and  the  following 
were  selected:  "Open,  Shut  Them"  (finger  song),  "Good 
Morning  to  You,"  "Old  Black  Joe,"  lullaby,  "Little  Pick- 
aninny." I  introduced  the  "Anvil  Chorus,"  and  it  was  called 
for  several  times.  One  of  the  boys  asked  me  to  tell  a  story 
about  a  little  girl  and  her  mamma.  I  told  them  a  parody  on 
"Little  Red  Riding  Hood,"  asking  them  to  fill  in  the  illustra- 
tive and  descriptive  parts  as  I  went  along;  for  instance,  when 
I  asked  what  Goldilocks  had  in  her  basket  for  grandma,  a 
great  variety  of  responses  came,  as  gingers,  cookies,  dough- 
nuts, ice  cream,  etc.  Following  the  story  was  a  short  march, 
led  by  a  little  girl  in  the  B  class. 

Then  they  marched  to  the  board,  where  each  child  had  a 
place  assigned,  and  began  to  draw  the  story  of  Goldilocks. 
After  ten  minutes  work  at  the  board,  part  of  which  time  was 
spent  in  drawing  circles  with  both  hands,  they  went  to  their 
seats  and  prepared  for  the  number  lesson.  The  A  class  stood 
on  the  floor  and  played  the  game  of  "Ten  little  children  stand- 
ing in  a  line,  one  ran  away,  and  then  there  were  nine,"  etc. 
Each  child  was  handed  the  box  of  one-inch  cubes,  and  told 
to  select  ten.  Only  three  made  a  mistake.  One  took  twelve, 
and  when  I  asked  him  to  re-count  and  tell  me  how  many  he 
would  have  to  take  away,  he  immediately  took  two.  The 
others  had  eight  and  nine,  and  soon  recognized  their  mis- 
takes. After  the  A  class  had  found  the  ten,  I  had  them  make 
a  row,  and,  with  a  finger  on  each  end  cube,  count  to  the 
center.  This  was  to  show  two  fives  in  the  row.  These  two 
were  moved  back,  leaving  eight.  In  the  same  way  the  row 
was  counted  for  two  fours,  and  the  center  moved,  leaving 
six;  so  on,  until  two  remained,  and  by  adding  to  the  end,  the 
sum  of  ten  was  again  reached.  The  B  class  were  given  beads 
to  classify  by  colors  and  then  string,  afterwards  counting 
for  me  the  number  of  each  color.  After  a  short  march,  we 
had  a  recess  of  twenty  minutes,  in  which  the  sand-pile,  garden 
tools,  swings,  rings,  hammers  and  wagons  were  in  constant 
use. 

After  recess  and  five  minutes  for  rest  we  had  two  songs, 
"Lips  Say  Good  Morning"  and  "Hush,  My  Dear,  Lie  Still 


KINDERGARTNERS'  DIARIES.  123 

and  Slumber.''  Pictures  and  story  books  followed  for  ten 
minutes.  I  asked  them  to  draw  with  paper  and  black  crayon 
first  the  story  I  told,  then  anything  they  remembered  in  the 
picture  books,  and  finally  anything  they  wanted  to.  We  played 
store,  and  the  children  whispered  to  me  what  they  wished  to 
have.  Several  chose  sewing-cards,  a  number  clay,  and  the 
majority  chose  building  blocks  of  all  sizes  and  shapes.  This 
period  lasted  for  half  an  hour.  A  short  march  and  recess  of 
twenty  minutes  followed.  After  the  " Anvil  Song"  the  chil- 
dren made  a  picture  with  parquetry  and  manila  paper.  We  were 
dismissed  with  the  song,  "Now  Our  Work  is  Over." 

MAY  W.  REESE. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


IMUV    ^o  1937 

-,UV    29  ^8 

.. 

ADD  9  6  ZQOt 

|\rR  «  ^  tu 

LD  21-95m-7,'37 

